Anxiously I waited, still keeping my eyes on the lion which, at the sound of the rustling branches, began to beat his tail ominously.
By sense of hearing I tried to divine how Mr Ferguson was progressing, and was congratulating myself by the certainty that he must be near the top, when, suddenly letting go Thompson, with a warning roar, I in horror perceived that the lion intended to make me his victim instead of the mate.
My fate, I felt was sealed. Thoughts of home, of Katie, of my little ones, rushed with the speed of light to my brain, while my heart grew sick.
A prayer escaped my lips, as I saw the wide, blood-red jaws expand to seize me, and the body rise with a noiseless spring. Tottering back, in imagination I already felt the hot breath of the animal on my face—his teeth in my flesh, when a crashing noise abruptly rung in my ears, followed by a cry of fear, and a howl of agony from the lion. Then a cloud of blinding dust enveloped me, and I fell back stunned against the wall of the cave.
It was some seconds before I could clear my eyes sufficiently to look for the cause of the noise, the dust, and of my yet being untouched by the lion, whose moans I could still hear.
On looking up, I saw to my surprise that the moonlight now streamed in at the top of the cave instead of the front which was blockaded by a great mass of rock, partly covered by which was the lion, writhing in agony, and utterly powerless—his hind quarters being crushed beneath the weight.
How the rock had come there, and what was the fate of my companions were mysteries, and I was striving to get my confused senses together to make a search when the head, and then the body of Mr Ferguson appeared, climbing over the fallen rock.
“Galbraith, in mercy speak if you be yet alive!” he cried in accents of terror.
“I am all right, Sir,” I answered, “but for Heaven’s sake tell me how all this happened.”
“I scarcely know—I was climbing the rock when, as I neared the top, I fancied the bush was giving way. I should have fallen just in front of the lion’s jaws, and before I could reflect on the matter, the instinct of self-preservation innate in us all, made me spring out among the bushes beneath. No sooner had I done so, than I heard a terrific noise accompanied by a fall, and, turning, perceived there had been a landslip, the mouth of the cave being barricaded by this rock.”