a fire of glowing embers, forms a heartb. Slices
of liver, well peppered with cayenne and salt, were
grilling on the gridiron, and we were preparing to dine,
when a terrific roar within a hundred and fifty
yards informed us that a lion was also thinking of
dinner. A confusion of tremendous roars proceeding
from several lions followed the first round, and my
aggageers quietly remarked, “ There is no danger
for the horses to-night, the lions have found your
wounded buffalo ! f
Such a magnificent chorus of bass voices 1 had
never heard ; the jungle cracked, as with repeated
roars they dragged the carcase of the buffalo through
the thorns to the spot where they intended to devour
it. That which was music to our ears was discord
to that of Mahomet, who with terror in his face
came to us and exclaimed : “ Master, what s that ?
What for master and the missus come to this bad
country ? That!s one bad kind will eat the missus in
the night ! JPerhaps he come and eat M^ah omet !
This after-thought was top much for him, and
Bacheet immediately comforted him by telling the
most horrible tales of death and destruction that
had been wrought by lions, until the nerves of
Mahomet were completely unhinged.
This was a signal for story-telling, when suddenly
the aggageers changed the conversation by a few tales
of the Basé natives, which so thoroughly eclipsed
the dangers of wild beasts, that in a short time the
entire party would almost have welcomed a lion,
provided he would only have agreed to protect them
from the Basé. In this very spot where we were
then camped, a party of Arab hunters had, two
years previous, been surprised at night and killed
by the Basé, who still boasted of the swords that
they possessed as spoils from that occasion. The
Basé knew this spot as the favourite resting-place
of the Hamran hunting-parties, and they might be
not far distant now, as we were in the heart of
their country. This intelligence was a regular damper
to the spirits of some of the party. Mahomet quietly
retired and sat down by Barraké, the ex-slave woman,
having expressed a resolution to keep awake every
hour that he should be compelled to remain in that
horrible country. The lions roared louder and louder,
but no one appeared to notice such sm all thunder ;
all thoughts were fixed upon the Basé, so thoroughly
had the aggageers succeeded in frightening not only
Mahomet, _but also our Tokrooris.