Page:Dick Sands the Boy Captain.djvu/489

 AN ANXIOUS VOYAGE, 46 1 of fîsh-hooks, a considérable proportion being the délicate sandjikaSf which when dried may be transported to any climate; besides thèse there were the black usakas, the wide-headed monndéSy and occasionally the little dagalas^ resembling Thames whitebaît. Next day, Dick met with an adventure that put ail hîs courage and composurc to the test. He had notîced the homs of à caama projecting above the brushwood, and went ashore alone with the intention of sccuring it. He succeeded in getting tolerably close to it and fired, but he was terribly startled when a formidable créature bounded along some thirty paces ahead, and took possession of the prey he had just woundcd. It was a majestic lion, at least five fect în height, of the kind called kdramoo, in distinction to the maneless species known as the Nyassùlion. Before Dick had time to reload, the huge brute had caught sight of him, and without relax- ing its hold upon the writhing antelope beneath its claws, glared upon him fiercely. Dick's présence of mînd did not forsake him ; flîght he knew was not to be thought of ; hîs only chance he felt întuitîvely would be by keepîng perfectly still ; and aware that the beast would be unlikely to gîve up a struggling prey for anothcr that was motionless, he stood face to face with his foe, not venturing to move an eyelid. In a few minutes the lion's patience seemed to be exhausted ; with a grand stateliness, itpickedup the caama as easily as a dog would lift a hare, tumed round, and lashing the bushes with its tail, disappeared in the jungle. It took Dick some little time to recover himself suffi- ciently to return to the canoë. On arriving, he said nothing of the péril to which he had been exposed, but heartily congratulated himself that they had means of transport without making their way through jungles and forests. As they advanced, they repeatedly came across évidences that the country had not been always, as now it was, utterly devoid of population ; more than once, they observed traces which betokened the former existence of villages ; either some ruîned palisades or the débris of some thatched huts,