enclosed it on the north, reed-thickets on the south and west; far in front was the fugitive lioness; the dogs were pressing on at various intervals, whilst the frantic crowd of well-nigh 200 negroes was scampering in the rear; nothing could be imagined more motley than their appearance; their aprons of white, or cheek, or brown, or red contributed a variety of colour; their leather mantles on their shoulders fluttered wildly in the wind; many of them brandished their assegais as if ready for action; others kept them balanced evenly in their hands; some of them continued to yell at the very top of their voices, and a few could be heard chanting, as if by anticipation, the strains of the lion-dance.
The climax was now at hand, and full of excitement it was. Again the lioness took refuge in a triangular thicket, with its vertex farthest from us. Close beside it was a sandbank, some ten feet high. Maranzian, with a number of men, placed himself on the right side of the thicket; I took up my position on the left, Cowley stationing himself on the sandbank at a point where he conceived the lioness when pressed by the negroes would try to escape. By encouraging words, and where words failed by the free use of a stout stick, Maranzian made a lot of the men go and ransack the reeds, and as they tumbled about they gave the place almost the aspect of a battle-field. The excitement became more intense when there remained but one little corner of the thicket to be explored. Now or never the lioness must be found. Suddenly there was an angry growl, and the beast leaped towards the pursuers. A shot was fired at that moment, but it only struck the sand; the negroes, taken by
