little time
while the otherwise unbroken stillness once more reigned.

"What's to be done?" said West. "Shall we make a start at once, or wait
for daylight?"

"I was thinking," replied Ingleborough. "If we start now we have the
advantage of the darkness to hide us, but the disadvantage too, for we
may go blundering right into the midst of some commando. I don't think
the firing could do us any harm, after all, for the enemy would not be
able to tell where the sounds came from. I think we had better stay
where we are and wait for morning."

"I think so too," said West, with a sigh of relief; "but one of us ought
to watch in case the lions come back."

"They will not come back!" said Ingleborough decisively. "From what I
know of their habits they'll have been too much scared to risk their
lives again. You hit one of them; there's no doubt about that."

"You think there was more than one?"

"I should say it was a family party of an old lioness and two or three
half-grown cubs."

"Then we may lie down and sleep again?"

"Yes; we must trust to our luck, Noll; there's a good deal of chance in
these affairs."

West hesitated for a few minutes, and then followed his companion's
example, lying awake for some time thinking of what a strange change
this was from his quiet life in the offices of the company; and then, as
he began to ponder over what might be to come, the subject grew too
difficult for him and he fell fast asleep.

But he was the first to awaken in the grey dawn, to find that the horses
were close at hand, browsing away contentedly enough, and ready to neigh
softly and submit to his caress when he walked up to them; while, as
soon as he had satisfied himself that they had not suffered in any way,
he walked in the direction in which he had fired during the night, to
find footprints in several directions, and in one place the dust among
some stones torn up and scattered, as if one of the brutes had fallen on
its side and scratched up the earth. Plainer still in the way of proof
of what had happened, there were spots and smudges of blood, giving
thorough evidence that one of the lions had been wounded by the chance
shot, and had fallen, and struggled fiercely to regain its feet.

He had just arrived at this conclusion when Ingleborough found him.

"Hallo!" cried his companion; "that was a good blind shot, Noll. Well
done, lad! A full-grown lion too! Look at its pads. It must have had
a nasty f