ain taking me up, we proceeded, though I own that I peered
somewhat anxiously into the wood where the lion had retreated, lest it
should change its mind and rush out upon us.

My uncle returned soon after we reached the camp, and at once examined
my ankle. Greatly to my relief he assured me that it was not broken,
and that, if he bound it up in a water bandage, I should probably be
well in a day or two. As it was already late, the blacks were unwilling
to go through the forest at night for the purpose of bringing in our
spoils, for fear of being carried off by lions. All night long we could
hear them muttering and roaring. Harry suggested that they were
mourning for their late companion. Occasionally the death-cry of some
unfortunate deer which they had pulled down reached our ears, while
various other sounds, some produced by insects or bullfrogs, or birds,
disturbed the silence of the forest. I, however, managed, in spite of
the noise and the pain I suffered, to go to sleep, and in the morning,
greatly to my satisfaction, I found my ankle much better than I
expected.

As meat was wanted, several of the party proposed to set off at an early
hour to bring in some from the animals we had killed; my uncle, Mr
Welbourn, and Harry going also. As I did not like to be left behind, I
begged to be allowed to mount a horse and to ride with them. I should
have been wiser to have remained quietly at the camp, but I wanted to
revisit the scene of our encounter the previous day. Jan followed
behind with several of the blacks, who were to be loaded with our
spoils. As we neared the spot, I heard my friends exclaiming in various
tones--

"Where is it? What has become of the creature!"--and, pushing forward,
I caught sight of the elephant and the dead lion at a distance, but
nowhere was the rhinoceros to be seen. It was very evident that it
could not have been killed as we had supposed, and that, having only
been stunned, it, at length recovering itself, had made off.

Toko cried out that he had discovered its spoor, and I saw him hurrying
forward evidently hoping to find the creature. The other blacks
meanwhile set to work to cut out the tusks, and select a few slices off
such parts of the body as were most to their taste, including the feet,
the value of which we knew from experience.

While they were thus occupied, my three white friends were busy in
flaying the lion. I kept my eye on Toko, expecting that, should