the shelter of a mapini-bush. Poor brute, it was evident that he was sick unto death; still, his heart was willing for the fight, though his body was weak in power to assist him. On perceiving our advance, with a determined effort, he gained his legs and faced us, his countenance as plainly as language spoken showing that surrender without a final effort was not intended.
I fear I was prompted by too many feelings of revenge to appreciate the noble sight the discomfited foe presented; for what wonder? Had I not lost three of my best draught-cattle?—a loss the magnitude of which can scarcely be understood except by those who have been placed in similar positions. The gallant beast's head was down, his lips curled upward, so as to show his formidable tusks, while his tail, as stiff and straight as a crow-bar, was erected aloft. If he had possessed the power now, he would have charged; as it was, he remained as splendid a target as the most fastidious could desire. I aimed between his eyes, and, ere the smoke had drifted away from the muzzle of my smooth-bore, the hero lay extended at length upon the sparsely covered veldt. While admiring my prize, three Makalakas approached me; the grin upon their countenances showed that they had something unusual to tell, or else something to dispose of. I was not long detained in doubt which it was; for from under a kaross two of their number produced each a lion cub, about the size of a six months-old kitten. While admiring the little beauties, who seemed in no way to feel the awkwardness of the position, a roar was heard in the distance, which caused the Makalakas to pick up their treasures and rapidly gain a position behind William and myself. "By gum," exclaimed William, "here comes ma!" and scarcely had he delivered his brief assertion than her ladyship made her appearance, trotting hastily toward us. When seventy or eighty yards off, she halted and uttered a suppressed growl, different in intonation from any that I had ever heard emanate from any of her family. Up to this time the little wee beasties had been models of propriety, but the voice of their dam had in a moment transformed them into fiends incarnate, for they scratched and bit their possessors with such determination and energy, at the same time squealing, that the Makalakas were fain to drop them on the ground, the better to enable them to retain possession of them. The three natives had a busy time of it in accomplishing their purpose, but William and I had other and more important matters to attend to, for, the moment the lioness heard the screams of her offspring, open mouthed and almost flying with velocity she charged upon us.
My first shot staggered her and brought her to the ground, but in an instant she regained her feet, and, nothing daunted by the check she had received, continued her headlong course. Again I pulled the trigger, and down she fell, her shoulder smashed, for her left fore-leg dangled and doubled under her as if deprived of joints; but a three-
