ers, and
there were evidences that a large herd of some kind of buck was passing
through the oasis, and these the lions were attacking.

Inyati was nervous and uneasy, not, as he explained, on account of the
lions, his "little gun" would see to them, but as to what was happening
at the water-hole, from which we had removed our camp some distance on
account of the lions.

"Gemsbok, master, a big herd of them, that is what it is," he said, as
we listened to the terrific roars in the direction of the water. "They
seek not water, for they seldom drink, but if it comes in their way
they may do so; moreover, they will be likely to trample the pool into
mud to cool their hooves. Luckily our water-skin is full, and the
horses have drunk well; but I fear what the morning will show."

All night we could hear the buck moving about and passing through there
must have been thousands of them. All night, too, the roaring
continued, culminating shortly before daybreak with the most terrific
uproar in the direction of the pool it was possible to imagine.

There the lions seemed to be making a combined attack, and judging by
the sounds they were also fighting among themselves. As soon as it was
daylight we hurried anxiously in that direction, keeping our rifles
ready, although, as a rule, lions are little to be feared by daylight,
unless disturbed at their meal. They were even more numerous than we
had imagined, for huge dun-colored forms slunk off in all directions
through the bush as we neared the water. "Water!" did I say? There was
no water now, for Inyati's fears had been well-founded. The little pool
had been trampled into black mud by countless gemsbok, and the various
half-eaten carcasses strewn about showed that the lions had taken heavy
toll of them.

Not without cost to themselves, however; for there in the centre of
what had been the pool lay a huge lion, dead, transfixed and impaled
upon the long, sharp, straight horns of the magnificent gemsbok bull,
that lay, with broken neck, almost hidden beneath the lion's formidable
bulk.

"Wow!" said Inyati; "I have heard of the like before. He was a strong
bull, that old one, and held his horns straight to meet the lion's
spring. And, as I feared, master, the water is gone."

It was obvious that nothing could be done with the black mud before us,
for where it still remained moist it was full of blood and filth; and a
decision thus forced upon us, we but waited till the power