found
himself, helpless and defenceless, a prey to the lioness.

Her eyes seemed to gleam with fury as she looked into his. Oh, the
agony of that moment, as, bleeding and impotent, his head pressed
against her shaggy neck, he was dragged up the bank, bodily, the sharp
fangs meeting in the flesh of the shoulder. Reaching the open, the
great brute for an instant relaxed her hold, probably only to secure a
firmer grip, and the unfortunate hunter fell to the ground. Placing her
huge paw on the prostrate man's breast, she looked upwards and growled
savagely. The sharp ring of a heavy rifle seemed to mix with the voice
of the lioness, and a stream of warm blood deluged the face and breast
of the fallen hunter, as the whole weight of the dying animal fell upon
and almost crushed him, while consciousness, for the first time in his
life, departed.

"Her head was within a foot of you when I fired," were the first words
which greeted his ears as he revived, and saw a stranger standing beside
him, endeavouring to drag away the carcass. The cubs had bolted
precipitately at the first shot, and presently Luji, who had heard the
double report, coming cautiously up, the hunter was freed from the
weight of the dead animal, a hole was scooped in the sandy bed of the
nullah, some fresh water procured, and, some hours afterwards, the two
who had thus strangely met were comfortably seated outside the little
tent on the forks of the Limpolulo, discussing the eland and mealie stew
which had been prepared for dinner.

"A curious situation for you, a missionary, to be in," said Hughes,
continuing a conversation which the process of dinner-eating had
interrupted.

"Curious enough, and not a very pleasant one," returned the new comer.
"I was returning from the country of the Matlokotlopo, where I had been
to find the chief Mozelkatse, without whose permission I knew it would
be useless for me to attempt penetrating further."

This new comer was of German origin, though his name smacked more of
Polish or Hungarian ancestry. He was a man evidently past his prime,
and his spare muscular frame, his dark hair slightly flecked here and
there with grey, his sunken cheeks and high cheek-bones, told of years
of care, hardship, and, perhaps, of dangers bravely faced; while the
bright, black, restless eyes, the broad, high forehead, the finely
chiselled lines of the mouth, and the firm erect carriage, promised
intellectual intelligence, combined