bs and entered
his heart, after making a large ugly hole in his side. Of course he
must have been within a few inches of the muzzle, when his breast,
pressing against the string, caused the gun to go off.

Having again loaded the roer, the hunters returned to their beds. One
might suppose they would have dragged the suicidal hyena away from the
spot, lest his carcass should serve as a warning to his comrades, and
keep them away from the trap. But Swartboy knew better than that.
Instead of being scared by the dead body of one of their kind, the
hyenas only regard it as proper prey, and will devour it as they would
the remains of a tender antelope!

Knowing this, Swartboy did not take the dead hyena away, but only drew
it within the kraal to serve as a farther inducement for the others to
attempt an entrance there.

Before morning they were once more awakened by the "bang" of the great
gun. This time they lay still; but when day broke they visited their
trap, and found that a second hyena had too rashly pressed his bosom
against the fatal string.

Night after night they continued their warfare against the hyenas,
changing the trap-kraal to different localities in the surrounding
neighbourhood.

At length these creatures were nearly exterminated, or, at all events,
became so rare and shy, that their presence by the camp was no longer an
annoyance one way or the other.

About this time, however, there appeared another set of visitors, whose
presence was far more to be dreaded, and whose destruction the hunters
were more anxious to accomplish. That was _a family of lions_.

The spoor of these had been often seen in the neighbourhood; but it was
some time before they began to frequent the camp. However, about the
time the hyenas had been fairly got rid of, the lions took their place,
and came every night, roaring about the camp in a most terrific manner.

Dreadful as these sounds were, the people were not so much afraid of
them as one might imagine. They well knew that the lions could not get
at them in the tree. Had it been leopards they might have felt less
secure, as the latter are true tree-climbers; but they had seen no
leopards in that country, and did not think of them.

They were not altogether without fear of the lions, however. They were
annoyed, moreover, that they could not with safety descend from the tree
after nightfall, but were every night _besieged_ from sunset till
morning. Besides, alt