an flesh he prefers
it to any other. In reality a "man-eater" is an old fellow who cannot
manage to get anything else to eat, and who might perhaps be more
appropriately styled a woman and child eater! When extreme old age
comes upon him in the remote deserts, far from human habitations, he is
constrained to appease the cravings of hunger with mice! The African
lion is of a tawny colour, like that of some mastiffs. The mane in the
male is large, and gives the idea of great power. In some the ends of
the hair are black, and these go by the name of black-maned lions, but,
as a whole, all of them look of a tawny yellow colour.

Having said thus much about his general character and appearance, we
shall resume the thread of our story, and show how the lions behaved to
Tom Brown and his friends the very night after the event narrated in the
last chapter.

The hunters had got back to the wagons, and were about to turn in for
the night, in order to recruit for the work of the following day, when
the sky became overcast, and gave every indication of a coming storm. A
buffalo bull had been shot by Pearson an hour before the arrival of our
hero and his companions, and the Caffres were busily engaged on his
carcass. A fire had been lighted, the animal cut up, and part of him
roasted, and the natives alternately ate a lump of roasted flesh and an
equal quantity of the inside raw! When the sky began to darken,
however, they desisted for a time, and set about making preparations for
the coming storm.

It burst upon them ere long with awful fury and grandeur, the elements
warring with incredible vehemence. Rain fell in such floods that it was
scarcely possible to keep the fires burning, and the night was so pitchy
dark that the hand could scarcely be seen when held close to the eyes.
To add to the horror of the scene, crashing peals of thunder appeared to
rend the sky, and these were preceded by flashes of lightning so vivid
that each left the travellers with the impression of being stone-blind.

After an hour or two the storm passed by, leaving them drenched to the
skin. However, the fires were stirred up, and things made as
comfortable as circumstances would admit of.

Just a little before daybreak they were all wakened by the bellowing of
the oxen and the barking of dogs.

"Something there," muttered Hicks, leaping up and seizing his gun.

The major, Tom Brown, Wilkins, Pearson, and the others were immediately
on t