Dick and Grosvenor rushed out, and with the aid of sjamboks soon quelled the disturbance and brought their motley pack into subjection, the animals having made a general dash at the intruders, when the latter arrived within some fifty yards of the wagon, while Leo, the lion cub, excited by the disturbance, had broken the rein which usually confined him to the wagon at nighttime, and had participated in the general onslaught. At the charge of the snapping, snarling dogs the approaching body of soldiery had promptly levelled their spears, and the interference of Dick and Grosvenor had only just been in the nick of time to save the animals' lives. The little episode left the troops and their commander absolutely expressionless, save that the latter seemed just a trifle astonished when he saw Dick coolly seize the snarling lion cub by his incipient mane and rate him roundly for his insubordinate behaviour, before he ordered the brute to retire with the dogs to the wagon. The next moment, in obedience to a sign from the officer, six couples detached themselves from the main body of the soldiery; and in a trice the two young Englishmen and their four dark-skinned followers, Mafuta, Ramoo Samee, Jantje, and 'Nkuku--the latter absolutely shivering with fear--found themselves prisoners, with their arms tightly bound behind them with stout raw-hide thongs. "Ah," ejaculated Dick, "this is just what I feared might happen! Still, it is perhaps better than being killed outright, and--" "Hush!" interrupted Grosvenor, sharply. "Listen to that fellow giving orders to his men: I'll be shot if he isn't speaking Hebrew--or something that sounds uncommonly like it!" "Hebrew?" echoed Dick. "Nonsense! Surely you don't mean it?" "Indeed I do, then," retorted Grosvenor; "never was more serious in my life. Listen! Yes, I feel sure I was not mistaken; it is a sort of Hebrew patois that he is speaking, Hebrew, mixed up, it is true, with a number of words that I can make nothing of. Still, I can understand enough of what he is saying to make out that he is giving his fellows orders to drive in our oxen and yoke them to the wagon. You know I went in rather strongly for Hebrew when I was at Oxford, and did pretty well at it. And I don't know what you think about it, Dick, but when I come to look at those men's faces it seems to me that they are all of quite a distinct Jewish type--eh, what?" "Well--yes--they certainly are," admitted Dick. "But--Hebrews! Where the dickens can they have come from?" "Goodness knows!" returned Grosvenor; "unless--and by Jove there may be something in the idea--who is to say that they are not one or more of the lost tribes--eh, what?"