"Oh, not so very bad, sir. You will soon get used to lions." "But the poor bullocks?" said Mark. "Ah, that is a bit of a loss, sir, but it's only nature. Bullocks is animals as was made to be eaten, and the lions are always on the look out for their share. Well, gentlemen, I am ready. It's getting broad daylight now. We are all loaded up. What do you say to a start?" "No," said the doctor; "no one shall stir until the sun is well up." "All right, sir; you are boss; but I am getting a bit anxious to make a start. No bullocks, no more trekking, for a waggon ain't much use stuck here under the trees." Meanwhile Mak had been with Dan to fill the water vessels from the stream, an affluent of the now big river by which they were camped. Mak had helped to draw together the glowing embers, and had then gone off again unnoticed, till all at once he was heard to utter a peculiar cry and come rushing towards them at full speed, as if pursued by one of the savage beasts that had attacked them in the dark hours of the night. "Hi--hi--hi--hi!" he yelled, as he came swiftly threading his way amongst the trees, waving his hands, each armed with a half of the broken spear, and pointing with them now and then in the direction from which he had come. Rifles were held ready, and all stood waiting for the next onslaught, till the black rushed, wildly gesticulating, into their midst. CHAPTER SIXTEEN. ANYBODY KILLED? "Hello, mate! What's wrong with you? Don't say as you have found Dunn Brown?" cried Buck. "Pete, Pete, Peter!" said the black, in a high state of excitement, and he pointed with his broken spear in the opposite direction to that which the lions seemed to have taken. "Peter Dance!" said Sir James excitedly. "Oh, poor old Dance!" said Mark, in a low, hoarse voice. "Not dead! Not dead!" cried Dean. The black shook his head violently, pointed again with his spear, and then bending down began to slap his right leg. "Oh, that's it, is it?" said Buck. "I thought he had come to say, gentleman, as he had found all that the lions had left of him." "Well," said the doctor, "what does he mean?" "Something wrong with his leg, sir, and I hope one of the great cats ain't mauled him, because their bites are likely to go bad." "Here, show us where he is," cried Mark excitedly; and closely followed by Dean he caught the black by the arm and pointed. That was enough. Mak pointed and smiled, and the whole party followed him at the double, Buck Denham grunting now and then as he ran, and pointing out where the undoubted footprints of a lion were plainly marked where the ground was soft. It was quite a quarter of a mile from the waggons, and in the midst of some dense undergrowth, that their guide stopped short and stood pointing in a way that showed there was no danger in the approach, when Mark whispered, with his heart sinking, "Oh, Dean, I'm afraid he's badly hurt!"