quite content to undertake so pleasant a part of the enterprise.
But although we crossed the meadow, we did not arrive at the bushes; startled by a cry of distress we looked back, but no trace of Mrs. Westbeech could be seen. Our amazement was great; Westbeech himself was the first to recover his composure, and started back with all speed to ascertain what had happened; we followed after, but what was our surprise, when all at once we found that he too had disappeared! We did not notice that the Matabele were in fits of laughter, nor for a while could we understand what Francis, who had run on some way in front, could mean when he turned round and threw his gun upon the grass before our feet, and bade us stop. In another moment Westbeech emerged from under ground, and directly afterwards Mrs. Westbeech reappeared after the same fashion. The explanation of the mystery was not hard to find. The natives had dug pitfall after pitfall to catch game; having no guns, they make great holes in the ground, sometimes ten or twelve feet long and nearly as many deep, so much narrower at the top than at the bottom, that it is impossible for any animals to get out when once in. Into one of these Mrs. Westbeech had had the mischance to fall, and Mr. Westbeech, in his eagerness, had run into another.
Beyond a few scratches, the lady happily had sustained no injury, but the contretemps naturally had the effect of making us abandon all further thought of the chase.
As for the lion, we were informed by some Batokas who came to visit us as usual in the evening, that it
