It was Harry's turn next, and I sat down on the edge of the hole, just behind him. I think he waited a good ten minutes, and then he had a chance for a shot very much like mine, and with the same result. His animal disappeared, and there was some roaring afterward, which indicated either that he had not made a fatal shot, or there were more lions about.
Very soon it was revealed that there were more lions, or else the first ones had not received their coup de grâce. It was now Jack's turn, and Harry and I expressed a wish that he might bring down a lion, so as to make the honors of the affair equal. Jack watched and waited patiently, even longer than we had waited; but his patience had its reward: he got a good shot at a lion, and evidently bowled him over, as we heard no more noise in that direction. After waiting a quarter of an hour or so we went back to our tent to sleep again till morning.
When we got up and came out our eyes met a surprising sight.
As soon as it was fairly daylight our people went out and surveyed the scene of the slaughter during the night. They found two lions, dead, a little distance away from the carcass of the ox which had been used as a bait; and a very effective one it had proved. They were about returning to camp, dragging the bodies of the lions, when they discovered a trail of blood leading off down the slope of the ridge. Following this for a quarter of a mile, they came to the body of a lioness; and a large one she was. By her side were two lion cubs—pugnacious little fellows, that snarled and bit ferociously at the men as they attempted to pick them up. The men persisted, however, and the little fellows were brought to camp in the arms of two of the Kafirs. The carcasses of the lioness and the two lions were also dragged up to the kraal, to give us an opportunity of seeing the beasts before their skins were removed. A very fine lot of game they were.
We immediately ordered the skins removed, and the carcasses dragged away to where the remains of the ox were lying, in order to give the jackals and hyenas a chance at them. As for the cubs, Jack devised a nursing-apparatus for them, by means of a beer-bottle filled with milk, and a piece of leather fastened in the mouth of it. We found the cubs did not live on milk alone, as they ate with avidity some raw meat which was given to them. They looked more like overgrown kittens than anything else I can describe. Imagine a kitten two months old as large as a good-sized cat, but retaining the kittenish appearance, and you have a good idea of these lion cubs.
Of course we had little else to look at and think of besides these cubs until our lady friends arrived. When they came the interest in the cubs increased, and exclamations of wonder and admiration filled the air. After the vocabulary of interjections had been pretty well exhausted, Mrs. Roberts asked what we were going to do with our prizes.
"Really," I answered, "that's a subject to which none of us have given any thought. I don't know what we can do with them; 'twould be rather nice to take them back to the Cape, but I don't know how the market is for young lions at present. We'll keep them awhile, and will probably be tired of them soon enough."
"Wouldn't they make a good addition to Miss Boland's menagerie?" queried Jack. "I wonder how they would get along with the young rhinoceros? By the way, Miss Boland, what is the latest intelligence of your rhinoceros?"
"We have named him Rhino," replied Miss Boland, "and he has been getting along very well. His manners are not at all sociable, but he has an excellent appetite; I haven't seen the least sign of indigestion in him since he was brought to camp. We feed him on milk, which is supplied by one of the goats; and we give him a variety of green food such as the rhinoceros is supposed to live upon. Our manager says Rhino eats his weight every day, and would eat as much more if he could get it. I've been trying to get on friendly terms with him, but he doesn't seem to care for anybody or anything. One of the Kafirs has been assigned to act as Rhino's attendant, but the creature treats him with the same disdain as he treats everybody else."
"Would you like to take these cubs as an addition to your menagerie?" queried Jack.