qually evident that
in a few moments he would succeed in clearing himself from the chimney.
His teeth and claws were hard at work, and the stones and mortar were
flying in all directions. The funnel would soon be down below his broad
chest, and then----

Von Bloom did not stay to think what then. He and Hendrik, guns in hand,
ran up near the bottom of the wall. The chimney was but a score of feet
in height; the long roer was pointed upward, reaching nearly half that
distance. The yaeger was also aimed. Both cracked together. The lion's
eyes suddenly closed, his head shook convulsively, his paw dropped loose
over the capstone, his jaws fell open, and blood trickled down his
tongue. In a few moments he was dead!

This was apparent to every one. But Swartboy was not satisfied, until he
had discharged about a score of his arrows at the head of the animal,
causing it to assume the appearance of a porcupine.

So tightly had the huge beast wedged himself, that even after death he
still remained in his singular situation.

Under other circumstances he would have been dragged down for the sake
of his skin. But there was no time to spare for skinning him; and
without further delay, Von Bloom and his companions mounted their horses
and rode off.

CHAPTER XII.

THE TRAVELLERS BENIGHTED

Our travellers would have talked much about lions, but for the condition
of their horses. This made them feel uneasy. With the exception of a few
hours grazing, the poor brutes had been without food since the
appearance of the locusts. Horses do not travel well upon soft grass,
and of course they were now suffering severely.

It would be far in the night before the horsemen could reach the
camp--although they were pushing on as fast as the horses could travel.

It was quite dark, when they arrived at the spot where they had halted
the previous evening. In fact, it was very dark. Neither moon nor stars
were to be seen in the sky; and thick black clouds covered the whole
canopy of the heavens. It looked as though a rain-storm might be
expected--still no rain had as yet fallen.

It was the intention of the travellers to halt at this place, and let
their horses graze a while. With this view they all dismounted; but,
after trying one or two places, they could find no grass!

This appeared strange, as they had certainly observed grass at that very
spot the day before. Now there was none!

The horses put their noses to the ground, bu