“I am very glad to hear that you were so prudent, Major; it would have been a very rash thing to attack a lioness with only three guns. So the antelopes escaped?”
“Yes, but we have the elands, which you say are such good eating. Do we stay here any longer, or do we proceed up the river?”
“You must ask Wilmot to decide that point,” said Swinton.
“It is just as you please,” said Alexander; “but they say that the more you go to the northward, the more plentiful is the game.”
“Yes, and we shall fall in with the giraffe,” said the Major, “which is now the great object of my ambition. I have killed the rhinoceros and elephant, and now I must have the giraffe; they can kill the two first animals in India, but the other is only to be had in this country.”
“And when you meet again your Indian friends, you wish to say that you have killed what they have not?”
“Certainly; what is the good of travelling so far, if one has not something to boast of when one returns? If I say I have hunted and killed the rhinoceros and elephant, they may reply to me, ‘So have we;’ but if I add the giraffe, that will silence them; don’t you observe, Swinton, I then remain master of the field? But here come the Hottentots with our game; come, Swinton, leave your preparations for a little while, and see what our morning’s sport has been.”
Swinton put aside the skin of the sassaby that he was cleaning, and walked with them to where the men were assembled, and was not a little surprised when he saw the skins and jaws of the lion and lioness. He was still more so when the Major recounted how they had been shot.
“You certainly have run a great risk,” said he, “and I am glad that you have been so successful. You are right in saying that I should have persuaded you not to attempt it; you are like two little boys who have taken advantage of the absence of their tutor to run into mischief. However, I am glad that it has been done, as I now hope your desire to kill a lion will not again lead you into unnecessary danger.”
“No, indeed,” replied Alexander; “having once accomplished the feat, and being fully aware of the great risk that is run, we shall be more prudent in future.”