"Stand by!" exclaimed Wilmshurst, handing his rifle to Bela Moshi, and before his companions could grasp the situation the subaltern plunged into the grass, made a sudden dash, and was back with a healthy young lion cub in his arms.
"We've bagged something, at all events," he remarked triumphantly. "The little beggar got adrift, I suppose."
"What are you going to do with it, old man?" asked Spofforth facetiously. "Use it as a decoy or train it to guard your kit in camp?"
"Just as likely as not the cub will act as a decoy," said Laxdale. "Let the little brute yap a bit."
"He's yapping quite enough as it is," rejoined Wilmshurst. "Hanged if we can hear anything with that noise. I hope you fellows are keeping on the alert?"
"MacGregor's doing that," replied Danvers, indicating the silent form of the Rhodesian, as he stood motionless as a statue, with his rifle ready for instant use.
"Hear anything, MacGregor?" enquired Spofforth.
The man shook his head.
"Thought I did," he replied, "but I must have been mistaken."
Giving the cub into the care of Bela Moshi, Wilmshurst followed his companions as they tramped in single file along the narrow bush track, the Haussas tailing on to the end of the procession.