The Yale expositor., 1897-01-22

that our poor servant might have been
mercifully delivered from the lions
jaws. At length the faint light came
stealing like ghost up the long slope
OF bush, and glinted on the tangled
oxen's horns, and with white and
frightened faces we got up and set to
the task OF disentangling the oxen till
such time as Their should be light
enough to enable us to follow the trail
of the lioness which had gone off with
Jim-Jim. And here a fresh trouble
awaited us, for when at last with in
finite difficulty we had got the helpless
brutes loose, it was only to find
that one of the best OF them
was very sick. There was no
mistake about the way he stood
with his legs slightly apart and his
head hanging down. He had got the
red water, was sure of it. OF all the
difficulties connected with life and
travelling in South Africa, those con-
nected with oxen are perhaps the worst.
The OK is the most exasperating ami
NAL in the world. He has absolutely
no constitution, and never neglects an
opportunity of falling sick of some
mysterious disease. He will get thin
upon the slightest provocation, and
from mere righteousness die of pow
erty;' whereas it is his chief delight to
turn round and refuse to pull when
ever he finds himself well in the CEN
ter of river, or the wagon-wheel nice
lU 70 cf In, &c oil
something wrong with him.
well, it was no use crying as l
should almost have liked to do, because
if this OK had red-water it was prob
able that the rest of them had 1t, too,
although they had been sold to me as
sailed, that is, proof against such dis
eases as red-water and lung-sick. One
gets hardened to this sort of thing in
South Africa in course of time, for l
suppose in no other country in the
world is the waste of animal life so
great.
$50, taking my rifle. and telling Har-
ry to follow me Cfor we had to leave
Pharaoh to look after the oxen,
Pharaoh's lean kline, 1 called them, 1
started to see If anything could be
found of or appertaining to the I'M
fortunate Jim-Jim. The ground round
our little camp was hard and rocky,
and we could not hit off any spoor
of the lioness, though just outside the
skerm we saw drop or two of blood.
Several hundred yards from the camp.
and little to the right, was patch of
sugar bush mixed up with the usual
mimosa, and for this / made, thinking
that the lioness would have been sure
to take her prey there to devour 1t.
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 the thighs,
as wet as though we had waded through
water. In due course, however, we
reached the patch of bush, and in the
gray light of the morning cautiously
and slowly pushed our way into it.
1t was very dark under the trees, for
the sun was not yet up, so we progressed
with the most extreme care, half ex-
pecting every minute to come across
the lioness licking the bones of poor
Jim-Jim. But no lioness could we see,
and as for Jim-Jim there was not the
least trace of him to be found. Evil
IDENTIFY they had not come there.
$50, pushing through the bush we
proceeded to hunt every other likely
spot about, with the same result
"T suppose she must have taken him
right away l said at last, sadly
enough. AT any rate he will be dead
by now, so God have mercy on him, we
can't help him. What's to be done
now?'
"T suppose that we had better wash
ourselves in the pool and then go back
and get something to eat