Page:Seven Years in South Africa v2.djvu/227

 the driver called out that he could see Captain M‘Leod’s servant up in a tree and only one horse beside him; another moment and his keen eye detected a lion retreating to the bushes on our right; I was sitting on the box, and almost immediately afterwards caught sight of the other horse lying disembowelled on the ground, the few small wounds in the neck revealing too clearly how the poor brute had met its end.

The servant’s tale was simple enough. About 300 yards from the tree he had been attacked by the lion and thrown, whereupon the lion, taking no notice of him, began the pursuit of his horse; the horse-cloth had entangled itself in the horse’s legs, and the creature was quickly overtaken and killed. The servant had betaken himself to the first mapani-tree, where we found him. The other horse was grazing quietly close at hand.

We all went some way in pursuit of the lion, but without success.