as one schoolboy carries
another.

The lion sat down like a great dog, watching this strange proceeding
with mild interest, but the lioness, filled with feminine curiosity,
followed sniffing at Higgs, who looked over his shoulder. Taking off his
battered helmet, he threw it at the beast, hitting her on the head.
She growled, then seized the helmet, playing with it for a moment as
a kitten does with a ball of wool, and next instant, finding it
unsatisfying, uttered a short and savage roar, ran forward, and crouched
to spring, lashing her tail. I could not fire, because a bullet that
would hit her must first pass through Japhet and Higgs.

But, just when I thought that the end had come, a rifle went off in the
shadow and she rolled over, kicking and biting the rock. Thereon the
indolent male lion seemed to awake, and sprang, not at the men, but at
the wounded lioness, and a hellish fight ensued, of which the details
and end were lost in a mist of dust and flying hair.

The crowd upon the wall, becoming alive to the real situation, began to
scream in indignant excitement which quickly communicated itself to
the less savage beasts. These set up a terrible roaring, and ran about,
keeping for the most part to the shadows, while Japhet and his burden
made slow but steady progress toward the ladder.

Then from the gloom beneath the hind-quarters of the sphinx rose a
sound of rapid firing, and presently Orme and Quick emerged into the
moonlight, followed by a number of angry lions that advanced in short
rushes. Evidently the pair had kept their heads, and were acting on a
plan.

One of them emptied his rifle at the pursuing beasts, while the other
ran back a few paces, thrusting in a fresh clip of cartridges as he
went. Then he began to fire, and his companion in turn retreated behind
him. In this way they knocked over a number of lions, for the range was
too short for them to miss often, and the expanding bullets did their
work very well, paralyzing even when they did not kill. I also opened
fire over their heads, and, although in that uncertain light the
majority of my shots did no damage, the others disposed of several
animals which I saw were becoming dangerous.

So things went on until all four, that is, Japhet with Higgs upon
his back, and Orme and Quick, were within twenty paces of the ladder,
although separated from each other by perhaps half the length of a
cricket pitch. We thought that they were safe, and shou