Part 7 (1/2)
The lion regarded us for a few seconds when--we raising a loud shout-- it, greatly to my satisfaction, bounded on and disappeared in the wood
Indeed a lion when alone will seldos who show a bold front, though it will follow like a cat, as do e brutes, if ah I own that I peered somewhat anxiously into the here the lion had retreated, lest it should change its mind and rush out upon us
My uncle returned soon after we reached the camp, and at once examined my ankle Greatly to my relief he assured me that it was not broken, and that, if he bound it up in a water bandage, I should probably be well in a day or two As it was already late, the blacks were unwilling to go through the forest at night for the purpose of bringing in our spoils, for fear of being carried off by lions All night long we could hear theested that they werefor their late companion Occasionally the death-cry of some unfortunate deer which they had pulled down reached our ears, while various other sounds, sos, or birds, disturbed the silence of the forest I, however, o to sleep, and in the reatly to my satisfaction, I found my ankle much better than I expected
As meat anted, several of the party proposed to set off at an early hour to bring in some from the ani also As I did not like to be left behind, I begged to be allowed to mount a horse and to ride with them I should have been wiser to have remained quietly at the camp, but I wanted to revisit the scene of our encounter the previous day Jan followed behind with several of the blacks, ere to be loaded with our spoils As we neared the spot, I heardin various tones--
”Where is it? What has becoht of the elephant and the dead lion at a distance, but nowhere was the rhinoceros to be seen It was very evident that it could not have been killed as we had supposed, and that, having only been stunned, it, at length recovering itself, had made off
Toko cried out that he had discovered its spoor, and I saw hi to find the creature The other blacks meanwhile set to work to cut out the tusks, and select a few slices off such parts of the body as werethe feet, the value of which we knew from experience
While they were thus occupied,the lion I keptthat, should he discover the rhinoceros, he would summon some of the party to his assistance I saw him look suspiciously into a thicket, then he turned to fly The next e beast rushed out, which I had no doubt was the rhinoceros we fancied that we had killed on the previous day
Toko made for a tree behind which he could shelter himself I called to er in which he was placed, but to my dismay before he could reach the tree the rhinoceros was upon him There was no time to leap either to the one side or the other, but as the ani as if to avoid it, but he was not in ti up its head, sent hiht of several feet The rhinoceros then charged on towards theup the elephant, when an blazing away at it Fortunately one of their shots took effect, and before it had reached the blacks, down it sank to the ground While Harry hastened on to where Toko lay, , fired into its head and finished its existence
I had ridden up to the Makololo, expecting to find every bone in his body broken As I approached, to h he li up his rifle, he declared that he was not much the worse for the fearful toss he had received, and was as ready as ever for work
He soon rejoined the rest of thethe oxen with the tusks and meat Some of the flesh of the rhinoceros was also cut off, and with the lion-skin packed up Rhinoceros ood flavour The portions we carried off were from the upper part of the shoulder and froularly striped to the depth of two inches So some fresh ox-whips We of course carried away the horns, which are about half the value of ivory
Altogether, the adventure which at one time appeared likely to prove so disastrous, afforded us no small amount of booty
CHAPTER SEVEN
The constant ht, areat risk of being attacked while out shooting We therefore struck camp, and proceeded on to the northward The country in h there were no h which we had to pass, the sides of the cliffs being covered with brushwood and creepers, and in so attacked by natives, but notwithstanding ays sent out scouts on our flanks and ahead
We had gone on so back
”I have seen a strange sight, which I would rather not have seen,” he exclaimed
”What is it?” asked my uncle
”Lions, a whole army of them They seem determined to stop our way,” he answered
”If there were a hundred of them they should not do that,” replied entlemen We shall soon drive them off if I mistake not”
As it would have been ihbourhood, a halt was called, and the blacks were left in charge of the animals, while ith Hans Scarff, prepared to ride forward
”Stay!” said Harry ”I think we have got sohtabout, if our shouts fail to drive theon he produced half-a-dozen rockets
”One of those will do,” observed his father, ”for we ency However, you can carry a couple in case one should fail”
Led by Toko, we proceeded along the defile, when, on reaching so the rocks, an immense number of lions There must have been several fa ones What could have brought theether to that spot, it was difficult to conjecture Toko declared that they kneere about to pass that way, and had asse us Of course such an idea was ridiculous; however, there they were, and had we passed close to the our cattle, although we should no doubt have shot down many of them They must have seen us, from the way they lashed their tails and muttered; while, froave forth, it was pretty clear that they meant mischief