he river
and hunt together for a time. Meredith was not sorry to make this
arrangement. He had left Natal with an English hunting friend. A
severe attack of fever on the Crocodile River had, however, driven his
comrade south; and, after a lonely hunt in the country about the Great
Salt Pan, north of the Lake River, he was not disinclined to have the
companionship of white folk again, rough Boers though they were. The
wagons stood for another two days at this outspan, while the Steyns'
oxen rested and refreshed themselves after their desperate trek across
the "thirst". On the last evening, Meredith was down at the river with
his fishing-rod, catching "cat-fish," of which there were quantities.
The Steyns were busied about their wagons, preparing for the evening
meal; the men-folk were sitting here and there, some on the
_dissel-boom_, some on wagon-chairs, smoking contentedly. Little Hans,
the youngest of the family, a sturdy imp of eight years, who had already
formed a strong attachment for the English captain, had run down towards
the water after his new acquaintance. Suddenly Jacoba glanced in that
direction and uttered a choking cry. The rest of the family, hearing
her exclamation, looked up, and were instantly horror-struck like
herself. A hundred and fifty yards away, little Hans was standing close
to the edge of a dense mass of reed-bed. Fifteen yards away from him
crouched a big yellow-maned lion, its tail twitching very softly from
side to side, its gaze fixed intently on the youngster's face. Hans had
seen the brute, and stood spellbound. Fifty paces away behind the boy
was Captain Meredith, who too had that instant caught sight of the lion,
and comprehended the whole terrible situation. He was armed only with
his fishing-rod. For one brief instant all the gazers at that terrible
picture were rivetted where they stood, frozen with apprehension.

Jan Steyn was the first to move. He rose from his chair and plunged
silently into his wagon for a rifle. But even he was not quick enough.
Meredith, defenceless though he was, had already made up his mind.
Flourishing his rod, and shouting objurgations on the lion at the top of
his voice, he ran swiftly straight in the brute's direction. To the
utter surprise of all the watchers and the intense astonishment of
Meredith himself, the lion, after baring his teeth in a savage defiance,
suddenly changed his mind, turned tail, and disappeared like a yellow
fl