have been the instantaneous
result. Most of them knew this well.

Knowing also that Muller was cool and sure, they breathlessly awaited
the result. Only three or four seconds were spent in aiming, but
instants become minutes in such a case. Some of the men almost gasped
with anxiety. Another moment, and Christian fired. The under jaw of
the lion dropped, and blood gushed front his mouth. He turned round
with a view to escape, but George Rennie shot him through the spine.
Turning again with a look of vengeance, he attempted to spring, but the
once powerful hind-legs were now paralysed. At the same moment, Groot
Willem, Van Dyk, Sandy Black, and McTavish put balls into different
parts of his body, and a man named Stephanus put an end to his existence
by shooting him through the brain.

It was a furious combat while it lasted, and a noble enemy had been
subdued, for this lion, besides being magnificent of aspect even in
death, measured full twelve feet from the point of his nose to the tip
of his tail.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

ADVENTURE WITH AN OSTRICH.

Time passed rapidly, and the settlers, both highland and lowland, struck
their roots deeper and deeper into the soil of their adoption--watched
and criticised more or less amiably by their predecessors, the few
Dutch-African farmers who up to that time had struggled on the frontier
all alone.

One day Hans Marais was riding with Charlie Considine on the karroo, not
far from the farm-house. They had been conversing on the condition and
prospects of the land, and the trials and difficulties of the British
settlers. Suddenly they came on an ostrich sitting on its eggs under a
bush. The bird rose and ran on seeing the horsemen.

"I daresay the cock-bird is not far off," observed Hans, riding up to
the nest, which was merely a slight hollow scraped in the sandy soil,
and contained a dozen eggs. "He is a gallant bird; guards his wife most
faithfully, and shares her duties."

"I've sometimes thought," said Considine musingly, "that the ostrich
might be tamed and bred on your farms. With such valuable feathers it
would be worth while to try."

"You are not the first who has suggested that, Charlie. My own mother
has more than once spoken of it."

"Stay a minute," said Considine; "I shall take one of the eggs home to
her."

"Not fit to eat. Probably half hatched," said Hans.

"No matter," returned the other, dismounting.

"Well, I'll ride to the ridge