"You must be very hungry," said Jack; "how long have you been in that tree?"
"We've been there since more than an hour before sunset—yes, nearly two hours before—and without a thing to eat or drink!"
"It was a lucky trick I brought along some brandy," I remarked, as I produced my flask; "some brandy and water will do you good."
Each of us had a bottle of water at his saddle-bow; in fact, we always made it a rule to take water along. In a very few moments the ladies were regaled with a drink, and then we brought forth our lunch and bade them satisfy their hunger.
"While you are doing so," I said, "you can make it less monotonous by telling how you came to get into that tree."
CHAPTER XXI.
RESCUING THE LADIES FROM LIONS—ON THE WAY TO
CAMP—FIGHT WITH A ROGUE ELEPHANT.
"It's a very short story," said Miss Boland. "We halted under this tree for a little rest, as we had been in the saddle for some time; we had no luck in hunting, all the game keeping a long distance away from us. When we reached this point we decided to turn back, and before doing so thought we would give the horses and ourselves a little rest.
"We were lying on the ground, and our horses were grazing a little distance away, when suddenly they gave a start and fled like the wind.
"Of course that brought us to our feet, and we looked around to see what had startled them. Coming straight toward us we saw three lions—and big ones they were, too. Our impulse was to spring into the tree, the lower limbs just affording us a chance to catch them and swing up. We left our rifles lying on the ground, but got into the tree safely. Oh, if we had only been able to take one of those rifles with us, we would have made short work of those fellows! The lions didn't seem to think it worth their while to pursue the horses; they stopped beneath the tree, and stayed there until you drove them away just now. And that's the whole story. They kept up a snarling and growling all night to let us know they were there, and there they have been ever since the horses went away from us."