No wood was near
them to make a fire, nothing but tufts of grass; they therefore pushed
on towards a range of dark mountains as fast as their jaded steeds would
go.

"Halt a moment," said Hans in a low voice.

They stopped and listened. The approach of the lion in rear was
distinctly heard.

"We cannot escape from him, Charlie," said Hans, as they again urged
their horses onward, "and in the dark we cannot take aim at him. Our
only chance is to reach yonder pass or glen that looms like a black
cleft in the hills, and clamber up some precipice, whence we can pelt
him with stones."

He spoke in quick, earnest tones. They soon entered the gorge and were
greeted by the grunt of a baboon and the squalling of its young ones,
which helped to increase the savage aspect of the towering cliffs on
either side. They had not proceeded far when the lion gave another
tremendous roar, which, echoing from cliff to cliff, gave the luckless
hunters the feeling of having got into the very heart of a lion's den.
No suitable place to scramble up being found, they pushed madly on over
a track of sand and bushes, expecting every instant to see the monster
bound upon them. But the defile was shorter than Hans had supposed. On
issuing from it they were cheered by the moon rising bright in the east,
and found that their enemy had ceased to follow them at that point.
Still, though weary, and with their tongues cleaving to the roofs of
their mouths, they continued their march for several hours, and lying
down at last, they scarcely knew how or there, they went to sleep with a
prayer for protection and deliverance on their parched lips.

The weary wanderers passed that night in a very paradise, bathing in
cool streams and slaking their thirst nearly, but never _quite_, to the
full. There was always a peculiar desire to drink again, and, even
then, to wish for more! Heavenly music, too, sounded in their ears, and
the sweet shade of green trees sheltered them.

It was daybreak when they were roused from these delights by a hyena's
howl, and awoke to find that they were speechless with thirst, their
eyes inflamed, and their whole frames burning.

Saddling the horses at once, they rode forward, and in a couple of hours
reached a hill near the top of which there was a projecting rock.

"Don't let me raise your hopes too high," said Hans, pointing to the
rock, "but it is just possible that we may find water _there_."

"God grant it!"