Part 60 (1/2)

At first he thought of cutting a hole in the door with his knife, large enough to see through and ad a view of the beast through that one, he wouldon adjacent sides of the house, would give hi of the field-cornet co his residence there, there had been two, thanks to a partition of zebra-skins; but these had been removed, and all was now in one rooet at the enemy, and yet this one did not quite please hih, and, if carried out, could only end in the death of the lion

A hole in both door and -shutter would enable them to fire at the brute as many bullets as they pleased, while they would be quite secure from his attack But the time that would be required to cut these holes--that hy the plan did not please the field-cornet He and his party had no ti journey lay before them ere a morsel could be obtained No,--the ti a breach Some more expeditious mode of attack must be devised

”Father,” said Hendrik, ”suppose we set the house on fire?”

Good The suggestion was a good one Von Bloo eaves It consisted of heavy beams of dry ith rafters and laths, and all covered over with a thatch of rushes, a foot in thickness It would h to suffocate the lion even before the blaze could get at hiestion of Hendrik was adopted They prepared to fire the house

There was still a large quantity of rubbish,--the collected firehich the locusts had not devoured This would enable them to carry out their purpose; and all three iainst the door

One ht aln; for, although he had been for a long while quite silent, he now cos, striking against the door outside, had set hi hirown iht as a shelter had been turned into a trap, and he was now anxious to get out of it

This was evident by the de about--passing froe paws, and causing the the h not without some apprehensions, the three continued their work

They had their horses at hand, ready to be h the fire In fact, they intended to take to their saddles--as soon as the fire should be fairly under way--and watch the conflagration froed up all the bush and dry wood, and had piled them in front of the door Swartboy had taken out his flint and steel, and was about to strike, when a loud scratching was heard fro that had yet reached their ears It was the rattling of the lion's claws against the wall, but it had an odd sound as if the ani violently; at the same time his voice seemed hoarse and smothered, and appeared to come from a distance

[Illustration: THE LION IN A FIX]

What was the brute doing?

They stood for aanxiously in each other's faces

The scratching continued--the hoarse growling at intervals--but this ended at length; and then came a snort, followed by a roar so loud and clear, that all three started in affright They could not believe that walls were between theain echoed that horrid cry Great Heaven! It proceeded no longer from the inside--it came from above them!

Was the lion upon the roof?

All three rushed backward a step or two, and looked up A sight was before them that rendered them almost speechless with surprise and terror

Above the funnel of the chi yellow eyes and white teeth showing ri his body up One foot was already above the capstone; and with this and his teeth he idening the aperture around hiht to behold--at least to those below

As already stated they were alarmed; and would have taken to their horses, had they not perceived that the animal was stuck fast!

It was evident that this was the case, but it was equally evident that in a fewhimself from the chimney

His teeth and claere hard at work, and the stones andin all directions The funnel would soon be down below his broad chest, and then----

Von Bloouns in hand, ran up near the bottoht; the long roer was pointed upward, reaching nearly half that distance The yager was also aiether The lion's eyes suddenly closed, his head shook convulsively, his paw dropped loose over the capstone, his jaws fell open, and blood trickled down his tongue In a few moments he was dead!

This was apparent to every one But Swartboy was not satisfied, until he had discharged about a score of his arrows at the head of the ani it to assue beast wedged hiular situation

Under other circued down for the sake of his skin But there was no ti him; and without further delay, Von Bloom and his companions mounted their horses and rode off