th."

Poor Inyati! the bravest, cheeriest comrade black or white that I have
ever had; little did I dream when he spoke thus that he would never
live to see the morrow!

That evening, as we sat smoking by the fire, we noticed that the two
horses were extremely nervous, pricking their ears and snorting as they
cropped the dry grasses a few yards away from us.

"Leopards," suggested Inyati, "there are many spoors here, but no
lions."

But scarcely had he spoken when the booming roar of a lion came from
the direction of the pool; to be immediately answered by another, and
another; until it was evident that the pan had been invaded by a
numerous troop of them. We both started to our feet with the same
thought in our minds. If they were hungry they might probably attack
the horses! It was still light, but no time was to be lost; so hastily
cutting down a number of the stunted thorn bushes with which the pan
abounded, we proceeded to build a "scherm" in which to pass the night.

We enclosed a space about fifteen yards square, and into this we
brought the horses, together with enough wood to keep a fire burning
all night; and as the hedge was seven or eight feet in height, and of
impenetrable thorn, we felt but little anxiety as to the presence of
the lions. As night fell, however, their roars became louder and
nearer, and by mid-night there were at least a dozen of them pacing
round our scherm, and barely kept at a distance by the frequent fire-
brands we threw over the fragile protection. Occasionally the huge
beasts fought amongst themselves, and the snarling, growling
pandemonium would become more deafening; then this diversion would
cease, and the whole troop would continue their pacing round our fence,
sniffing and snorting at us through the thorn bushes and making us feel
as one can imagine a mouse feels when caught in a trap, and with a
hungry cat peering through the bars at him. Time after time we scared
them away by throwing fire-brands among them, but always they returned,
and to our dismay, long before morning we realized that our stock of
firewood would not nearly last till daylight.

We had refrained from shooting, as it was impossible to see the brutes
through our scherm; but as the fire got lower, and they became more
daring, we sent a few shots among them, and the hellish hubbub that
ensued showed that some of them were hit. But this proved disastrous,
for a wounded animal, in its death struggles near t