sed as a bridle-post.

Hendrik dismounted, hooked his rein over one of these forks; rested his
yager across another; and then, sighting the shaft of the arrow, pulled
trigger. The rifle cracked, the broken stick was seen to fly out from
the door, and the string was set free!

All were ready to gallop off; but the lion, although he growled fiercely
on hearing the shot, still lay close.

Swartboy now drew in the string; and, having adjusted it to a fresh
arrow, moved round so as to command a view of the window. In a few
minutes the shaft had cut through the air and stuck deep into the
yielding wood, and then the shutter swung round on its hinges and was
drawn close.

All three now dismounted ran silently and rapidly up, and secured both
door and shutter with strong reins of raw-hide.

Hurrah! the lion was caged!

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

THE DEATH OF THE LION.

Yes, the fierce brute was fairly in the trap. The three hunters
breathed freely.

But how was the affair to end? Both door and window-shutter fitted
strongly and closely; and, although it was possible to glance through
the chinks, nothing could be seen inside--since, both being shut, it was
quite dark within.

Even could the lion have been seen, there was no hole through which to
thrust the muzzle of a gun and fire at him. He was just as safe as his
captors; and, so long as the door remained closed, they could do him no
more harm than he could them!

They might leave him shut up, and let him starve. He could live for a
while upon what the jackals had left, with the carcasses of the two
dogs, but that would not sustain him long, and in the end he would have
to give up and miserably perish. After all, this did not seem so
certain to Von Bloom and his companions. Finding that he was caged in
earnest, the brute might attack the door, and with his sharp claws and
teeth manage to cut his way through.

But the angry field-cornet had not the slightest intention of leaving
the lion such a chance. He was determined to destroy the beast before
leaving the ground; and he now set to thinking how this could be
accomplished in the speediest and most effectual manner.

At first he thought of cutting a hole in the door with his knife, large
enough to see through and admit the barrel of his roer. Should he not
succeed in getting a view of the beast through that one, he would make
another in the window-shutter. The two being on adjacent sides of the
house, wo