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 disappeared no lions were there! In vain he sent for his horse and galloped backwards and forwards down one bank, while Norris did the same on the other. The lions had gone down the river under cover of the high bank, and had got safely away to the forest.

They were all, of course, determined not to spend such another night as the last, so they set a gun trap for stray visitors, and baited it with a large piece of meat. They had just finished their preparations when a cry was heard from one of the Kaffirs, and turning round Selous saw poor Blucher come slowly and painfully up by way of the river. He was covered all over with wounds, and. had four holes in the loose skin of his neck, where the lion had seized him. How he had escaped, or why he had waited so long before returning to camp, no one ever knew; but he wagged his tail feebly at the voice of his master. They did everything they could for him, and in time his wounds healed; but he never got really well, and only grew thinner and thinner till one morning he was found quite dead.