He forced down a few mouthfuls, drank a cup or two of tea, and then went out among the cattle and horses (he now owned four of the latter, having purchased two steady old hunters while he was in Leichtberg) to satisfy himself, by personal examination, that they were securely fastened. Then he looked at the supply of firewood, and having lighted his lantern, climbed into the wagon and devoted himself to his diary.
If McCann could have known what he wrote regarding the part he had played in the exciting scene that had just been enacted he would have felt like going off somewhere and hiding himself.
"I'll fix you to-morrow, my fine fellow!" said Oscar to himself, smiling over the thought that had just then suggested itself to him. "I'll make you prove some of your boasts, or acknowledge yourself to be a coward."
One would think that McCann had already proved himself a coward; but if additional evidence were needed to fully establish that fact, and to prove beyond a doubt that there was no dependence to be placed in him in times of danger, an incident happened that very night which caused the after-rider to show himself up in his true colors.
Just as Oscar closed his diary and arose to put it away in the hanging pocket in which he usually kept it he was startled by a sound that made the cold chill creep all over him. He knew what it was as well as though he had heard it every day of his life. It was the roar of a lion.
It was repeated five or six times, and ended in long-drawn sighs, which grew lower and deeper until they sounded like the mutterings of distant thunder.
This was followed by a sound that almost paralyzed the young hunter—a sound made by something scrambling into the forward end of the wagon.
He turned quickly, fully expecting to see the opening filled by the shaggy head of the terrible king of beasts; but he saw, instead, the pale, almost livid, face of the redoubtable McCann, who was making all haste to seek a place of refuge.
"What do you want in here?" demanded Oscar as soon as he had somewhat recovered himself.
"Didn't you hear that lion?" asked McCann in a trembling voice.