Hunter Quatermains Story | Page 8

no more of him for a while.
"Just after we had had this fright from the lion, the moon rose in her
fullest splendour, throwing a robe of silver light over all the earth. I
have rarely seen a more beautiful moonrise. I remember that sitting in
the skerm I could with ease read faint pencil notes in my pocket- book.
As soon as the moon was up game began to trek down to the water just
below us. I could, from where I sat, see all sorts of them passing along
a little ridge that ran to our right, on their way to the drinking place.
Indeed, one buck--a large eland--came within twenty yards of the
skerm, and stood at gaze, staring at it suspiciously, his beautiful head
and twisted horns standing out clearly against the sky. I had, I recollect,
every mind to have a pull at him on the chance of providing ourselves
with a good supply of beef; but remembering that we had but two
cartridges left, and the extreme uncertainty of a shot by moonlight, I at
length decided to refrain. The eland presently moved on to the water,
and a minute or two afterwards there arose a great sound of splashing,
followed by the quick fall of galloping hoofs.
"'What's that, Mashune?' I asked.
"'That dam lion; buck smell him,' replied the Zulu in English, of which
he had a very superficial knowledge.
"Scarcely were the words out of his mouth before we heard a sort of
whine over the other side of the pool, which was instantly answered by
a loud coughing roar close to us.
"'By Jove!' I said, 'there are two of them. They have lost the buck; we
must look out they don't catch us.' And again we made up the fire, and
shouted, with the result that the lions moved off.
"'Mashune,' I said, 'do you watch till the moon gets over that tree, when

it will be the middle of the night. Then wake me. Watch well, now, or
the lions will be picking those worthless bones of yours before you are
three hours older. I must rest a little, or I shall die.'
"'Koos!' (chief), answered the Zulu. 'Sleep, my father, sleep in peace;
my eyes shall be open as the stars; and like the stars watch over you.'
"Although I was so weak, I could not at once follow his advice. To
begin with, my head ached with fever, and I was torn with anxiety as to
the fate of the Hottentot Hans; and, indeed, as to our own fate, left with
sore feet, empty stomachs, and two cartridges, to find our way to
Bamangwato, forty miles off. Then the mere sensation of knowing that
there are one or more hungry lions prowling round you somewhere in
the dark is disquieting, however well one may be used to it, and, by
keeping the attention on the stretch, tends to prevent one from sleeping.
In addition to all these troubles, too, I was, I remember, seized with a
dreadful longing for a pipe of tobacco, whereas, under the
circumstances, I might as well have longed for the moon.
"At last, however, I fell into an uneasy sleep as full of bad dreams as a
prickly pear is of points, one of which, I recollect, was that I was
setting my naked foot upon a cobra which rose upon its tail and hissed
my name, 'Macumazahn,' into my ear. Indeed, the cobra hissed with
such persistency that at last I roused myself.
"'/Macumazahn, nanzia, nanzia!/' (there, there!) whispered Mashune's
voice into my drowsy ears. Raising myself, I opened my eyes, and I
saw Mashune kneeling by my side and pointing towards the water.
Following the line of his outstretched hand, my eyes fell upon a sight
that made me jump, old hunter as I was even in those days. About
twenty paces from the little skerm was a large ant-heap, and on the
summit of the ant-heap, her four feet rather close together, so as to find
standing space, stood the massive form of a big lioness. Her head was
towards the skerm, and in the bright moonlight I saw her lower it and
lick her paws.
"Mashune thrust the Martini rifle into my hands, whispering that it was
loaded. I lifted it and covered the lioness, but found that even in that

light I could not make out the foresight of the Martini. As it would be
madness to fire without doing so, for the result would probably be that I
should wound the lioness, if, indeed, I did not miss her altogether, I
lowered the rifle; and, hastily tearing a fragment of paper from one of
the leaves of my pocket-book, which I had been consulting just before