, 1888-12-20
A TALE OF 3 LIONS.
ny H. RIDER HAGGARD.
Concluded from Dee. 9Th.

81 made up her mind what 10 do
1T did not take heT long, ScweveT-just
as long as it takes a haEa 70 die into dark
ness-for before coald fire again or do any
thing, with most f1eldish snort she sSrang
upon poor Jim-Jim.
Il heard the unfortunate lad shrek, and
then almost instantly saw his legs thrown
into the air The honess had seized him by
the neck, and with a sudden jerk thrown his
body over her back SO that his legs hung
down at the further side.
Then, without the slightest hesitation,
and apparently without any difficulty, she
cleared the skerm fence at q single bound,
and, bearing poor Jim-Jirn with her, vanished
into the darkness beyond in the direction OF
de bathing place that / have already de-
scribed We jumped up, perfectly mad with
horror and fear, and rushed after her, firing
fhots at haphazard, on the cha1ce that she
would be frightened by them into dropping
her prey, but nothing could We see and moth
ing could we hear. The Eoness had vanished
into the darkness, taking Jim-Jfm with her,
and TO attempt TO follow her till daylight was
madness We should only expose ourselves
70 the risk of a like fate
80 with scared and heavy hearts we crept
back to the skerm and sat down to wait for
daylight, wk&eh now could not be much more
to try even TO disentangle the oxen till then,
30 all that was left for us to do was to sit and
wonder how it came TO pass that one should
be taken and the other left, and TO hope
against hope that our poor servant might
have been mercifully delivered from tho lions
jaws. At length the faint light came steal
ing like ghost up the long slope of bush
and glinted on the tangled oIen's horns,
and with frightened faces We got up and
set 20 tbs task OF disentangling the oxen till
such time as there should be light enough to
cable US to follow the trail Of the honess
which had gons of with JimJim. And here
fresh trouble awaited VI, for when at last,
with infinite difficulty, we had got the great
helpless brutes loose, it was only to find that
one of them was very Eick. There was no
mistake about the way he stood with his legs
slightly apart and his head hanging down
He had got the redwater; was sure OF It
OF all the difficulties connected with life and
travelling in South Africa those connected
with oxen arc perhaps the worst. The OK ta
the most exasperating animal in tho world,
negro excepted. He has absolutely no con
Etitution, and never neglects an opportunity
Of falling sick Of some mysterious disease.
He will get thin upon the slightest provoca-
ton. and from mere maliciousness die Of
poverty whereas it il his chief delight TO
turn round and refuse to pull whenever he
AndS himself well in the center Of q river, or
the wagon wheel nicely fast In q mud hole
Drive him a few milGs over rough roads and
you will find that he is fOotsore; turn him
loose to feed and you will discover that he
has run away, or If ne has not run away he
has Of E2slice aforethought eaten tulip and
poisoned himself. There is always some
tLiag wrong with him. The OF is O brute
Il Was Of q piece with his accustomed be-
hsvior for the one in question to break out
on purpose, probaDly-wlth redwater just
when lion had walked off with his herder.
1t was exactly what 1 should have expected,
and was therefore neither disappointed nor
surprised.
''Well, it was no use crying, as l should
almost have liked to do, because if this OK
had redwater it was probable that the rest
OF them had it too, although they had been
sold to me as 'salted, that is, proof against
such diseases as redwater and lung sick.
One gets hardened to this sort of thing in
South Africa in-rnI1rSe Of tiAa> fnl'-1 zap
pose m no other country in ttA world is the
waste of animal life so great
''Se, taking my rifle and telling Harry to
follow me for we had to leave Pharaoh to
look after the oxen-Pharaoh's lean kline I
called them), started to see if anything
could be found of or appertaining to the un-
fortunate Jim-Jim. The ground round our
little camp was hard and rocky, and We
could not hit off any spoor Of the HoneSs,
though just outside the skerm we saw q drop
or two of blood About 800 yards from the
camp, and little TO the right, was q patch of
sugar bush, mixed with the usual mimosa, and
for this l made, thinking that the lioness
would have been sure to take her prey there
to devour it. On We pushed through the
long grass, that was bent down beneath the
weight of the soaking dew. In two minutes
we were wet through up to our thighs, as
SSt as though we had waded through water.
In duo course, however. we reached the
patch of bush, and in tse gray light of tia
morning cautiously and slowly pushed otr
way into it. 1t was very dark under TIA
trees, for the sun was not yet up, SO We waik-
ed with the most extreme care, half expect
ing every minute to come across the ioneSS
licking the bones of poor Jim-Jim. But no
.:di.ss could We see, a1d as Ter Jim-Jim,
Ll-el o was not even finger Joint of him to
/, found. Evidently tbsy had not come
llere.
$50 pushing throus b tf.s bush we proceeded
TO hunt every other likely spot about, with
the same result.
4" Il suppose she must have taken him right
away said at last, sadly enough. AT any
rate, be will be dead by now, so God have
mercy ON him, we can't help him. What's to
be done nowP
"a 4 suppose that we had better wash our
selves in the pool and then go back and get
something to eat. / am filthy said Harry.
This was q practical, if a somewhat un-
feeling, suggestion. At least it struck me as
unfeeling TO talk Of washing when poor Jim
Jim had been SO recently eaten. However, i
did not let my sentiment carry me away, SO
We went down to the beautiful spot that
have described, to wash. / was tho first to
reach it, which did by scrambling down the
ferny bank. Then / turned round and started
baslk with YELL rs well might, for from
almost beneath my feet there came a most
awful snarl.
81 had lit down almost upon the back of
the lioneSs, who had been sleeping on the slab
where we stood to dry ourselves after bath
ing. With q snarl and Growl, before could
do anything, before l could even cock my
riflo, she had bounded right across the crystal
pool and vanished over the opposite bank.
1t was all done in an instant. as quick Us
thought.
''Shc had been sleeping ON the slab, and
oh, horror what was that sleeping beside
her 1t was the red remains of poor jim
Jim, lying Oh patch of blood stained rock.
"'Oh! father, fatherp shrieked Harry,
look in tho water
II looked. There, floating in the center
Of the lovely, tranquil pool, was Jim-Jims
head The iOness had bitten it right of,
and it had rolled down the slopins rock into
tho water
CHAPIkrs ~.
Poor Jim-Jim! We buried what was left
OF him, which was not very much, in an old
| bread bag, and though whilst he lived his
virtues were noS great, now that he was gone
We could have wept over him. Indeed, Harry
did weep outright; while I registered a quiet
little vow on my own account that | would
le: daylight into that lioness before | was IS
hours older, if by any means it could be done.
1--WE buried him and there he lies where
the lions viii not trouble him any more. So
there IS an end OF the book OF Jim-Jim.
''The question that now remained was how
TO circumvent his murdereSs. / knew that
she Eould be sure to return as soon as she
would be hungry again, but did not know
when she would be hungry She had left SO