etween them and the antelopes, and were now peeping and creeping to
find out an opening to fire through, when they heard a rustling within.
Bremen touched the sleeve of the Major and beckoned a retreat, and
motioned to the others; but before they could decide, as they did not
know why the Hottentot proposed it, for he did not speak himself, and
put his hand to his mouth as a hint to them to be silent, a roar like
thunder came from the bushes, within three yards of them, accompanied
with a rushing noise which could not be mistaken. It was the roar and
spring of the lion; and they looked round amazed and stunned, to
ascertain who was the victim.

"Merciful Heaven!" exclaimed Alexander, "and no one hurt!"

"No, master; lion spring at antelope. Now we shall find him on other
side of the bush, and kill him easy, when his eyes are shut."

Bremen led the way round the copse, followed by our travelers; they soon
arrived on the other side of it, with their guns all ready; but on their
arrival, to their astonishment they perceived the lion and the male
gemsbok lying together. The antelope was dead, but the lion still alive;
though the horns of the gemsbok had passed through his body. At the
sight of the hunters, the lion, pierced through as he was, raised his
head with a loud roar, and struck out with his paw, as he twisted toward
them, his eyes glowing like hot coals, and showing his tremendous fangs.
Alexander was the first who fired, and the ball penetrating the brain of
the noble animal, it fell down dead upon the body of the antelope.

"This is the finest sight I ever witnessed," observed Swinton. "I have
heard that the gemsboks' horns are sometimes fatal to the lion, but I
could hardly credit it. They have passed nearly through his body; the
points are under the skin."

"Now we know, master, why gemsbok have his nose to the ground and his
horn pointed," said Bremen; "he saw the lion, and fought him to save his
herd."

"I am quite stunned yet," observed Alexander. "What a noble animal it
is! Well, at all events I can say that I have shot a lion, which is
more than you can, Major."

"I only wish that when I shoot one I may have no more danger to incur,"
replied the Major. "What a different idea does one have of a lion in a
menagerie and one in its free and native state. Why, the menagerie lions
can't roar at all; they are nothing but overgrown cats, compared to the
lion of the desert."

"That is very true," observed