ace as before, about a yard from the man's feet. Another
night passed away, and the lion kept at his post. The next day, in the
forenoon, the animal again went to the water, and while there looked as
if he heard a noise in an opposite quarter, and then disappeared in the
bushes.

"Perceiving this, the man made an effort, and seized his gun, but in
attempting to rise he found it not in his power, as the strength of his
ankles was gone. With his gun in his hand, he crept to the pool and
drank, and, looking at his feet, he discovered that his toes had been
quite roasted and the skin torn off as he crawled through the grass. He
sat at the pool for a few minutes expecting the lion's return, and
resolved to send the contents of his gun through his head; but the lion
did not return, so the poor fellow tied his gun on his back and crawled
away on his hands and knees as well as he could. He was quite exhausted,
and could have proceeded no further, when providentially a person fell
in with him and assisted him home; but he lost his toes, and was a
cripple for life."

"What makes this story more remarkable is," observed the Major, "that
the lion, as it is rational to suppose, must have been hungry after
watching the man for sixty hours, even admitting that he had taken a
meal but a short time before."

"I know many other curious and well-authenticated anecdotes about this
noble animal," observed Swinton, "which I shall be happy to give you;
but I must look at my memorandum-book, or I may not be quite correct in
my story. One fact is very remarkable, and as I had it from Mr. ----, the
missionary, who stated that he had several times observed it himself, I
have no hesitation in vouching for its correctness, the more so, as I
did once perceive a similar fact myself; it is, that the fifth
commandment is observed by lions--they honor their father and mother.

"If an old lion is in company with his children, as the natives call
them, although they are in size equal to himself, or if a number of
lions meet together in quest of game, there is always one who is
admitted by them to be the oldest and ablest, and who leads. If the game
is come up with, it is this one who creeps up to it, and seizes it,
while the others lie crouched upon the grass; if the old lion is
successful, which he generally is, he retires from his victim, and lies
down to breathe himself and rest for perhaps a quarter of an hour. The
others in the meantime draw roun