had fallen in with a native village, the inhabitants of which appeared
to be inclined to be friendly, and had invited them to join in a grand
hunting expedition. "I will tell you all about it as soon as I have
eaten something," said Stanley. "But what is this I hear of a visit
from a lion? Did the brute actually dare to leap into the midst of our
camp and carry off one of its inmates? It shall not be the fault of my
rifle if he does not pay dearly for his freak before another sun rises."

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

STANLEY'S ADVENTURES AMONG THE PEOPLE OF KABOMBA.

We were, of course, eager to hear Stanley's adventures.

"Finding the day tolerably cool, though I doubt if our friends in
England would have called it so, we pushed on further south than we have
ever gone before," said Stanley. "The country, though wooded in parts,
was generally open, and we had little difficulty in making our way
across the prairie. I have never seen such large herds of buffaloes,
zebras, gnus, rhinoceroses, and giraffes. Had we been mounted, we
should have had no difficulty in coming up with them, but on foot it was
a very different matter. Often, as we got up to them, almost within
range of our rifles, they were off again, leaving us standing alone,
without a hope of overtaking them. As the sun rose higher and grew
hotter, the buffaloes and rhinoceroses retired to their coverts, as did
many of the other animals, the zebras and giraffes alone defying the
sun's rays. I now hoped, by keeping under shelter of the woods, we
might the more easily surprise some of the animals we were in search of.
Before proceeding further, however, I proposed that we should open our
wallets and dine; and having selected a shady spot under tree at a
little distance from the forest, where there was probability of our
being surprised by any prowling leopard or hungry lion, we formed our
noonday camp. We had not sat long, when Mango came in and told us that
he had seen the head of a buffalo projecting from the forest at some
little distance, and that he was sure there must be several there. I
had been so annoyed at not killing anything, that, without finishing my
dinner, I set off with Mango to try and reach the spot unobserved by our
expected prey. We at once got under shelter of the wood, and worked our
way along through the borders of the forest, hoping to get up to the
spot without disturbing the herd. Mango at length made me understand by
signs t