I peeped and poked and looked in every
possible direction, with my heart in my mouth, and was at last rewarded
by catching a glimpse of something yellow moving behind a bush. At the
same moment, from another bush opposite me out burst one of the cubs and
galloped back toward the burned-out pan. I whipped round and let drive a
snap-shot that tipped him head over heels, breaking his back within two
inches of the root of the tail, and there he lay helpless but glaring.
Tom afterward killed him with his assegai. I opened the breech of the
gun and hurriedly pulled out the old case, which, to judge from what
ensued, must, I suppose, have burst and left a portion of its fabric
sticking to the barrel. At any rate, when I tried to get in the new case
it would only enter half-way; and--would you believe it?--this was the
moment that the lioness, attracted no doubt by the outcry of her cub,
chose to put in an appearance. There she stood, twenty paces or so from
me, lashing her tail and looking just as wicked as it is possible to
conceive. Slowly I stepped backward, trying to push in the new case, and
as I did so she moved on in little runs, dropping down after each run.
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