ffairs as a matter of course, with
Grosvenor's tacit consent and approval, said:

"Now, Phil, anything that may break cover to the right of that baobab,
as we stand facing it, belongs to you, while anything that emerges to
the left belongs to me, neither of us to interfere with the other's
chances unless the brutes seem likely to get away and make good their
escape. And, just one caution, old chap: don't fire until your quarry
has passed out clear of the line of bush, or you may quite
unintentionally shoot one of the beaters. Ah! there are the dogs giving
tongue; the beaters are putting them into the bush. To your station,
old man, and good luck to you!"

"Thanks! same to you, old chap," cheerily responded Grosvenor, as he
wheeled and strode away to the spot fixed upon as his station.

The clump of bush in which the lions were said to have secreted
themselves was an isolated one, with nothing in particular to
distinguish it from the thousands of other clumps that dotted the
visible country, except that one extremity of it abutted upon the edge
of a small shallow ravine, through which trickled a tiny rivulet
discharging itself into the larger stream which flows through the long
valley that intersected the landscape. Close to the spot where the
clump of bush touched the edge of the ravine the rivulet flowed into and
through a shallow basin of rock, which formed an ideal drinking place
for animals; and it was possibly this circumstance that had caused the
lions to take up their temporary abode in that particular clump. There
was the possibility that the lions, when breaking cover, might attempt
to escape by bolting into and up the ravine; and accordingly, when this
fact had been pointed out and explained to Dick, he had very unselfishly
placed his friend Grosvenor on that side in order that the latter might
have the benefit of the most likely chances.

The barking and yelping of the dogs grew steadily louder and more
insistent, and to it was presently added the shouts and shrill
whistlings of the Kafirs as they forced their way through the thick
undergrowth. A few birds flew out with startled cries, but for about a
quarter of an hour there was no further result. Then suddenly the dogs
burst into a chorus of sharp, savage barks, entirely different in
character from their former utterances, and quite sufficient in itself
to inform even the veriest novice that game of some sort was afoot; the
Kafirs' cries of encou