Part 21 (1/2)

”By day and night, ht Our people will not venture forth in the darkness of the forest for fear of the wizards and the bad spirits that watch froiven to Muata He could walk in the night”

”Have you seen these--eh--spirits, Muata?” Muata put the question aside He rose and pointed to the east

”The sun dies away and the hunters return”

”I don't hear them Where are they?” ”The birds cry out and fly

That is the sign thatboat, birds will scold at a leopard or a great snake, hovering around as they scold; but they fly frole they will hide after giving the warning call; but from man they fly”

A fewan antelope on his shoulder

CHAPTER IX

A LION'S CHARGE

They turned in very early after banking up leaves over the fires under the biltong strips, to give theht, but in the sht, shi+ning on Venning's face, woke hiht for safety, and he rose to cover the glare with so cohts, slept on, except the jackal, which had one eye open

Venning sat awhile looking down upon the dim uncertain shadows that came and went, as a fleecy mist-like cloud passed overhead Beyond the fitful reat ho his blanket round hiht overlooking the bed of the little river, and there he sat doith his back to a rock and his gun over his knees Scarcely was he seated when the jackal startled him by its sudden appearance at his side He scratched its ears, and it sat close to hi fixedly down on the river Just below there was a stretch of sand in the bed glea watched this with the eye of a naturalist, in the hope of seeing soreat forms of animal life And he had his hope, for several creatures crossed the white patch, and each time the jackal was the first to see them The round ears would suddenly prick forward, the sharp nose would twitch, and then Venning would diht A porcupine heas it went down to the water; then a great wart-pig with curved tusks; and next, after a long interval, a fine buck with long powerful horns A water-buck he judged it to be fro with its face up-streae ears He rested his elbows on his knees as he sat and ai the camp; and presently the buck, even as he watched, vanished as softly and silently as it caun settled between his knees, and he was asleep

He was asleep, and he ake again so suddenly that he did not know he had slept until he saw the position of the gun The jackal plucked at his blanket He reed that the jackal had done the sa just before He yawned and patted its head; but, instead of sitting down, it ran a few yards, sniffed the air, whined, ca over its shoulder into the riverbed, looked into Venning's face, then ran off in the direction of the ca felt lonely He stood up, thinking to return to the caain, for he heard the sharp stamp that an antelope makes when alarht

So he settled down to watch again, and drowsiness fell upon his eyes He could see the white patch of sand, and as his heavy lids were lowered and lifted between the drowsy intervals, he beca on the sand Yes; there it was, sorey, short, and thick A donkey, he told hie to see the old familiar form out there in the wilderness He wondered dreamily where it ca cloud blotted out the river-bed He rubbed his eyes, and when the cloud had gone there were two anier than the other, both with their heads turned upwards towards him Another cloud sailed by, and when it had passed he ain for a closer scrutiny Surely that was not a bush on the bank? No! ittowards hier, h hirew sharp, and the sweat suddenly started out all over his face and body That was no donkey standing there, with its huge head now sunk alh, as it tried tothere by the rock above!

Venning felt the hair stir on his head as the two ani at hiround, and with long steps began to creep round to the right Theits side, and showed the tawny hide and the whitish under-parts of a lioness The other, then, was a lion! With a sort of gurgling in his throat he turned his eyes to it, and he saw it trotting up straight for hi to its head and shoulders an enor hand or foot It was the silence of the ferocious beasts that paralyzed him Then the jackal howled behind hier clave to the roof of his reat beast ithin ten yards of him, he let forth a terrific yell and jumped to his feet, with his rifle in his hands

The lion stopped suddenly in its charge with a low harsh grunt of surprise Never before in its hunting had it heard such a wild uncanny noise In one ht, and as it swerved the boy fired The lion gave a round with a heavy thud, and then it seerowling it set up

Fro, followed by the sound of amoistened his lips ”Look out,” he shouted, ”there is a lion here”

”Where are you?”

”Here, by this rock”

”Stay there, and keep quite still”

The growling increased, and once more the same paralysis attacked the boy so that he could scarcely breathe Then some one stood at his side, and the fear went from him at once

”He's over there, somewhere; but I can't see hi flat with his head between his paws, and it's a e”