The Irish standard., 1890-02-22

! 100000 or an eland. 10 my oellgnt
/ there the little creature lay-the huge
bullet had decapitatedi it. Considering all
the circumstances do not think have
often made a better shot than this, but
If any one doubts, let him try his hand
at rabbits head fifty yards away with
an elephant gun and three-ounce ball.
l picked up the Petite in triumph and
returned to the camp. There we skinned
him and toasted him over the fire. He
! just made good meal for US, keeping
his hind legs for breakfast.
There was no moon that night, and SO
! it CHANGED that when suddenly remem-
bered the lion spoor, and suggested that
we had better tie up the horses quite
close to US, we could not find them,
though we knew that they were grazing
/ within fifty yards. This being SO, we
could only make up the fire and take our
chance. Shortly afterward I went to
sleep with little I ia in my arms. Sud-
denly was awak ned by hearing that
peculiar painful sound, the scream Of a
horse, quite close TO the fire, which was
still burning brightly. Next second
there came noise of galloping hoofs,
and before I could even rise my poor
horse appeared in the ring of freight.
AS in flash of lightning l saw his star
| ing eyes and wide-stretched nostrils, and
| the broken rein with which he had been
knee7haltered flying in the air. Also
saw something else, for on his back was
great dark form with glowing eyes.
and from the form came a growing
sound. 1t was lion.
The horse dashed on. He galloped
right through the fire, for which he had
run in his terror-fortunately, however,
without treading on us-and vanished
| into the night. We heard his boots for a
| hundred yards or more; then there was
| silence, broken now and again by dis
tant growls. AS may be imagained, we
did not sleep any more that night, but
waited anxiously till, two hours later,
| the dawn broke.
AS soon as there was sufficient light
we rose, and, leaving Tota still asleep,
crept cautiously in the direction in
which the horse had vanished. When
we had gone fifty yards or so we made
! out the remains lying on the veldt, and
caught sight of two great cat-like forms
sinking away in the gray light.
To go any further was useless; we
knew all about it now, and we turned to
look for the other horse. But our cup OF
misfortune was not yet full 1t was no
| where to be found. Soon we came upon its
spoor, and then we saw what had hap
'pened. Terrified by the sight and smell
of the lions, it had with a desperate ef-
fort also burst the rein with which it had
been knee haltered and galloped fal
away. For now we were left alone in
these vast solitudes without a horse to
carry us, and with child who was not
old enough to walk more than little
way at time.
Well, it was no use giving in, so, with
few words, we went back to our camp,
where found Tota crying because she
had woke to find herself alone, and ate
| little food. Then we prepared to start.
First, we divided such articles as we
| must take with us into two equal parts,
rejecting every thing that we could pos
sibly do without. Then, by an after
thought, we filled our water-bottles,
tzlOuEn S1O WHO Uku40 i was 4ooA401 Of 04AAASU
doing so because Of the extra weight
But Indaba-zimbi overruled me in the
matter, fortunately for all three OF us.
I settled to look after Tota for the first
march, and gave the elephant gun to
I Indaba-zimbi At length all was ready
and we set out on foot By the help OF
occasional lifts over rough places, Tota
MANAGED IN walk nm the Stone on the
hillside where I had shot the Petite
buck. At length we reached It, and,
looking at the country beyond, I gave
an exclamation Of dismay. To say
that it was desert would be saying too
much; it was more like the Barroo in
the Capea vast sandy waste, studded
here and there with low shrubs and
scattered rocks. But it was great ex-
panse Of desolate land, stretching as far
as the eye could reach, and bor1ered far
away by q line Of purple hills, in the
center OF which great solitary peak