reat lily leaves and a curious motion of
their edges, which were tilted up by the moving creatures stirring
amidst the stems.

"Head hurt?" said Joe at last, after a long silence, broken only by the
grunts of Shaddy as he rubbed and polished away at the gun-barrel, so as
to remove the last trace of damp.

"Hurt? No. Only smarts a bit," replied Rob.

"Why did you want to go ashore again?"

There was no reply.

"I didn't; I was too tired. Don't care for much walking in the hot sun.
Did you want to shoot?"

"No. Wanted to see whether Mr Brazier had shot that poor cat."

"Poor cat!" said Joe, derisively: "I wonder whether a mouse calls his
enemy a poor cat. Why, the brute could have taken you and shaken you
like a rat, and carried you off in its jaws."

"Who says so?" retorted Rob, rather warmly.

"I do."

"And how do you know you were right?"

"Well, of course I can't tell whether I'm right," said Joe, "only that's
what lions and tigers do."

"Seemed as if it was going to, didn't it?" said Rob, who was now growing
warm in the defence of the animal. "Why, it was as tame as tame, and
I'm going ashore first thing to-morrow morning to track it out and find
where it lay down to die. I want its skin, to keep in memory of the
poor thing. It was as tame as a great dog."

"Won't be very tame 'morrow morning if you find it not dead," growled
Shaddy.

"Then you don't think it is dead, Shaddy?" cried Rob eagerly.

"Can't say nothing about it, my lad. All I know is that Mr Brazier
fired two barrels at it, and as the shots didn't hit you they must have
hit the lion."

"Don't follow," said Rob, with a short laugh. "Couldn't they have hit
the ground?"

Shaddy rubbed his head with the barrel of the gun he was oiling, and
that view of the question took a long time to decide, while the boys
smiled at each other and watched him.

"Well," said Shaddy at last, "p'raps you're right, Master Rob. If the
shots didn't hit the lion they might have hit the ground."

"And you did not find the animal, nor see any blood?"

"Never looked for neither, my lad. But, tell you what: if you do want
his skin I'll go with you in the morning and track him down. I expect
we shall find him lying dead, for Mr Brazier's a wonderful shot."

"And not likely to miss," said Rob sadly. "But I should like its skin,
Shaddy."

"And you shall have it, sir, if he's dead. If he isn't he has p'raps
carried it miles away into the woods,