ed as though he were on the point of
bursting into tears. With a visible effort he steadied himself, and,
still pressing Jack's hand, began to talk to him.

"We're strangers," he exclaimed excitedly, "but for all that we are
brothers! My God, how I have longed for the sight of an honest
Englishman! and last night, if I had thought that by being carried away
by that lion I should have met one, I almost think I should have been
glad if the beast had picked me up and walked off with me. And they
tell me I have to thank you for my life, and that you tackled the lion
alone, and so fell into their hands. I'm sorry that you should be a
prisoner, but I can't tell you how glad I am to have a comrade."

"Yes; it's an awful sell to find myself a prisoner when I had covered so
much of the journey," Jack answered; "but I suppose it's for the best.
I should have died if I had been left here alone. But tell me about
yourself. The Boer doctor said you had been commandeered against your
will."

"That is true. My name is Guy Richardson, and I've lived all my life in
the Transvaal. But for all that, Father and I are British to the
backbone, and would sooner shoot ourselves than fight against our
countrymen. But I'll tell you all about it if you like, and if you feel
strong enough to listen."

"Just push something under my head, so that I can look at you without
straining my neck," said Jack. "That's it, thank you! Now, fire away;
I shall be delighted to hear the tale. But first of all let me tell you
that my name is Jack Somerton, and that you've nothing to thank me for.
You forget that you were the only one of all the Boers who stood your
ground when the lion sprang into the kraal."

"That's true, Somerton," Guy Richardson agreed; "but for all that I know
that I owe my life to you. But now that you are comfortable, I'll go
ahead with the yarn. To begin with, I must explain that Father came to
the Transvaal five years before the annexation by Sir Theophilus
Shepstone, and as soon as the Boer trouble was over, and the Transvaal
had become a republic, he became a naturalised burgher, for he found it
was a necessity if he wished to prosper in business. I was born quite
close to Johnny's Burg, and can speak the Boer tongue as well as our
own. We got on pretty well with our neighbours, but our sympathies have
been with the Uitlanders, and when matters got to such a pass that war
seemed probable, it became a question as to