up, his nerves
in no way shaken by the fearful danger he had gone through--for I fully
believe that had he missed the lion, which was on the point of springing
on him, he must have been killed; and had we not been near to defend him
from the rhinoceros, nothing could have saved him. Just as Stanley had
finished loading his gun, a loud roar echoed through the woods, and we
saw, coming out from behind the back of the elephant, another large
lion. We could almost distinguish the grin on his features as he stood
shaking his head, but yet not daring to approach. The ferocious beast,
which we concluded from his size was one of the man-eaters, advanced
boldly towards us. He seemed about to spring, and might have reached us
across the stream with a bound, when Stanley, raising his rifle, fired,
and the lion rolled over, shot through the heart. Igubo and the other
black, uttering shouts of triumph, came running up. They had been
concealed in a pit at a little distance, where it appeared that they
also had shot a lion and a leopard.

"Why you go so far off?" said Timbo, when he saw them. "Is dis de way
to look after de captain? Captain, you kill Miss Kate and Miss Bella
wid fright if you go away like dis." Timbo had evidently scarcely
recovered his alarm at the risk his master had run.

"Well, well, Timbo," answered Stanley; "you see we have done our duty
and performed our promise. Three man-eaters lie dead, and I hope we may
bag the remainder before many days are over."

The blacks were very anxious to get us all to go to their village, that
they might treat us with honour, and thank us for the services we had
rendered, and for the ample supply of meat which our success had
procured. Not being hard-pressed ourselves, we begged them to accept
the whole of it, with the exception of a small quantity of the
rhinoceros meat, which they undertook to bring up the following day. I
urged Stanley, however, to come back, to relieve Kate of her anxiety;
and telling our new friends that we would come and see them another day,
we returned homewards. Having reloaded our guns, we took our way along
the banks of the river. I was a little in advance, when I put my foot
upon what I thought was the log of a tree, when what was my horror to
see stretched out before me the long head and scaly body of a huge
crocodile! I stopped; for though the creature could not instantly turn
round, he might first knock me over with his powerful ta