At the first appearance of the lions the men took refuge in the wagons, and long after the danger was over they trembled violently from fear and apprehension.
As a general rule, a lion, unless previously molested, will seldom attack an ox in the yoke or when attended by man, but long abstinence makes him desperate.
After considerable trouble and difficulty, we succeeded in rearranging the oxen, which had become excessively scared. Two or three hours' further traveling brought us, without, other mishap, safe to Richterfeldt, where our hair-breadth escape was listened to with the deepest interest.
We had left Scheppmansdorf, as said, in the afternoon of the 13th of November, and reached our present quarters early on the morning of the 22d of the same month. The whole of the distance by road could not have been much less than one hundred and thirty miles. Having performed this in five stages, and in about the same number of days, our rate of traveling, at an average, had been twenty-five miles daily. Taking into consideration the nature of the ground, the young and half-broken oxen, &c., it may fairly be considered first-rate speed, and our efforts were loudly praised by every one.
CHAPTER VIII.
Immediately on our arrival at Richterfeldt we were surrounded by scores of natives, who, with yells, vociferations, clapping of hands, grotesque dances, and so forth, testified their joy at our return. Mr. Rath, moreover, highly compli-
