Dyke was too much confused to make any reply. Utterly exhausted as he had been, his deep sleep seemed to still hold him, and he sat gazing vacantly at his brother, who added in a tone full of contempt: "There, don't stare at me in that idiotic way. Come along; let's try and save something. Look sharp! One of us must ride on, or we shall not find it before it's dark." Dyke rode beside him in silence, for Breezy eagerly joined his stable companion, and in a short time they were up to, and then passed Jack with his plodding oxen, which were drawing a rough sledge, something similar to that which a farmer at home uses for the conveyance of a plough from field to field. The angry look soon passed away from Emson's face, and he turned to Dyke. "There, look up, old chap," he said; "don't pull a phiz like that." Dyke was still half stupefied by sleep, but he had grasped his brother's former words, and these were uppermost, rankling still in his mind as he said heavily: "You talked about the jackals and vultures, Joe." "Yes, yes; but I was in a pet, little un--vexed at the idea of losing our stock of good fresh meat. That's all over now, so say no more about it. Began to think I was never coming, didn't you? Well, I was long." Emson might just as well have held his tongue, for nothing he now said was grasped by Dyke, who could think of nothing else but the former words, and he repeated himself: "You talked about the jackals and vultures, Joe." "Yes, yes, I did; but never mind now, old chap." "But you didn't say a word about the lions." "What?" cried Emson excitedly. "You have had no lions there, surely?" "Yes," said Dyke, bitterly now, for he was waking up, and felt deeply aggrieved. "Two great beasts." "But in open day?" Dyke nodded. "Then why didn't you fire? A shot or two would have scared them away." "Yes," continued the boy in the same bitter tone; "but you can't fire when your gun's empty, and you have no cartridges." "But you had plenty when we started. I filled your pouch." "Yes, but it came undone in the ride after the eland. It's lost. I sent Duke to try and find it, and he didn't come back." "My poor old chap!" cried Emson, leaning forward to grasp his brother's shoulder. "I did not know of this." "No, you couldn't know of it, but you were precious hard upon me." "My dear old chap, I spoke to you like a brute. I ought not to have left you, but I was so delighted with the way in which you had brought down the game, and, as it were, filled our larder, that I thought you ought to have all the honour of keeping guard, while I played drudge and went to fetch the sledge to carry the meat home. But tell me: the lions came?" "One did," said Dyke, "and gave me turn enough, and when I got away from him to try and catch Breezy here, another savage brute hunted me and nearly struck me down. Oh, it was horrid!" he cried, as he ended his rough narrative of what he had gone through.