The lioness, for it was she, passed so quickly that we could not even distinguish her movements, much less fire.Indeed at night it is absolutely useless to attempt to shoot unless the object is very close and standing perfectly still, and then the light is so deceptive and it is so difficult to see the foresight that the best shot will miss more often than he hits.
"'She will be back again presently,' I said; 'look out, but for Heaven's sake don't fire unless I tell you to.'
"Hardly were the words out of my mouth when back she came, and again passed the ox without striking him.
"'What on earth is she doing?' whispered Harry.
"'Playing with it as a cat does with a mouse, I suppose.She will kill it presently.'
"As I spoke, the lioness once more flashed out of the bush, and this time sprang right over the doomed and trembling ox.It was a beautiful sight to see her clear him in the bright moonlight, as though it were a trick which she had been taught.
"'I believe that she has escaped from a circus,' whispered Harry;'it's jolly to see her jump.'
"I said nothing, but I thought to myself that if it was, Master Harry did not quite appreciate the performance, and small blame to him.At any rate, his teeth were chattering a little.
"Then came a longish pause, and I began to think that the lioness must have gone away, when suddenly she appeared again, and with one mighty bound landed right on to the ox, and struck it a frightful blow with her paw.
"Down it went, and lay on the ground kicking feebly.She put down her wicked-looking head, and, with a fierce growl of contentment, buried her long white teeth in the throat of the dying animal.When she lifted her muzzle again it was all stained with blood.She stood facing us obliquely, licking her bloody chops and making a sort of purring noise.
"'Now's our time,' I whispered, 'fire when I do.'
"I got on to her as well as I could, but Harry, instead of waiting for me as I told him, fired before I did, and that of course hurried me.
But when the smoke cleared, I was delighted to see that the lioness was rolling about on the ground behind the body of the ox, which covered her in such a fashion, however, that we could not shoot again to make an end of her.
"'She's done for! she's dead, the yellow devil!' yelled Pharaoh in exultation; and at that very moment the lioness, with a sort of convulsive rush, half-rolled, half-sprang, into the patch of thick bush to the right.I fired after her as she went, but so far as Icould see without result; indeed the probability is that I missed her clean.At any rate she got to the bush in safety, and once there, began to make such a diabolical noise as I never heard before.She would whine and shriek with pain, and then burst out into perfect volleys of roaring that shook the whole place.
"'Well,' I said, 'we must just let her roar; to go into that bush after her at night would be madness.'
"At that moment, to my astonishment and alarm, there came an answering roar from the direction of the river, and then another from behind the swell of bush.Evidently there were more lions about.The wounded lioness redoubled her efforts, with the object, I suppose, of summoning the others to her assistance.At any rate they came, and quickly too, for within five minutes, peeping through the bushes of our skerm fence, we saw a magnificent lion bounding along towards us, through the tall tambouki grass, that in the moonlight looked for all the world like ripening corn.On he came in great leaps, and a glorious sight it was to see him.When within fifty yards or so, he stood still in an open space and roared.The lioness roared too; then there came a third roar, and another great black-maned lion stalked majestically up, and joined number two, till really I began to realize what the ox must have undergone.
"'Now, Harry,' I whispered, 'whatever you do don't fire, it's too risky.If they let us be, let them be.'
"Well, the pair marched off to the bush, where the wounded lioness was now roaring double tides, and the three of them began to snarl and grumble away together there.Presently, however, the lioness ceased roaring, and the two lions came out again, the black-maned one first--to prospect, I suppose--walked to where the carcass of the ox lay, and sniffed at it.
"'Oh, what a shot!' whispered Harry, who was trembling with excitement.
"'Yes,' I said; 'but don't fire; they might all of them come for us.'
"Harry said nothing, but whether it was from the natural impetuosity of youth, or because he was thrown off his balance by excitement, or from sheer recklessness and devilment, I am sure I cannot tell you, never having been able to get a satisfactory explanation from him; but at any rate the fact remains, he, without word or warning, entirely disregarding my exhortations, lifted up his Westley Richards and fired at the black-maned lion, and, what is more, hit it slightly on the flank.
"Next second there was a most awful roar from the injured lion.He glared around him and roared with pain, for he was badly stung; and then, before I could make up my mind what to do, the great black-maned brute, clearly ignorant of the cause of his hurt, sprang right at the throat of his companion, to whom he evidently attributed his misfortune.It was a curious sight to see the astonishment of the other lion at this most unprovoked assault.Over he rolled with an angry snarl, and on to him sprang the black-maned demon, and began to worry him.This finally awoke the yellow-maned lion to a sense of the situation, and I am bound to say that he rose to it in a most effective manner.Somehow or other he got to his feet, and, roaring and snarling frightfully, closed with his mighty foe.
"Then ensued a most tremendous scene.You know what a shocking thing it is to see two large dogs fighting with abandonment.Well, a whole hundred of dogs could not have looked half so terrible as those two great brutes as they rolled and roared and rent in their horrid rage.
