The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1859-07-20
A Lion Adventure In Algeria.


pain in my head, and directly afterwasd [
received blow OIL the head through the
side of the tent which made me think for
moment that had been struck by an iron
bar with claws at the end, which 1 carried
with me in my wagon but in an instan:
the idea flashed arcoss me that it was lion
which was shifting at me through the back
of the tent. If remained without moving,
there was the probability of the beast tear.
ing up the tent and dragging me through
On the other hand. an attempt 10 move clos
er 10 the fire would probably be detected,
as thetlion has the 'sazaae-sctfarsrterisIics as
the cat, and would doubtless have sprung
upon me in that case, and have carried me
off. While hesita,ing what TO do, The ami.
NAL, most likely from not being able any
longer to feel anything through the wall of
the tent, must have turned away, for after
what was in fact, but few moments, but
which seemed very long time, there was
terrific shrek, followed by low, deep
growing, then shot and louder growl.-
| felt about for my revolver, which had
placed besidemy head before going to sleep,
and creeping round the tent | saw the her
roid beast standing perfectly still, with gar-
ing eyes, and continuing the same low,
deep growing, and holdingrini his mouth
the body Of man, which he occasionally
lowered to the ground as if with the inten.
ton of taking firmer hold, but never en-.
tirely letting 60 oi 1t. saw by the direc.
tion of his look that be-haa caught sight of
me, and so terrible were the associations
connected with the beast in my mind that
dared not move or breath for some seconds
when the thought suddenly occurred 10 me
that it must be the body of Hamed that he
held in his mouth. My liking for this man
had become SO strong that the desire TO res
cue or avenSe him drove every feeling of
fear out of my mind, and, with steady aim,
| fred at his body just behind the shoulder.
Singularly enough, although knew had
hit him, he merely gave loud growl and
remained stationary, without relaxing his
hold of the Arabs body. How long he
would have remained in this state of immo.
bility can't say. but was just about to
try the effect of second shot, when regu-
lar volley of guns was fired from out of the
darkness the beas: sprang toward me, al
most at the same instant that felt a sharp,
singing sensation ihihe upper pau of my
arm, and fell to the ground, so close to me
that fell back TO avoid blow from his
claws in his death struggles. They did not
last long, and as soon as they were over
l fetched lighted brand from the fire, and
first holding it to the face of the dead man
to see who it was, and feeling much reliev-
ed at finding it was not Hamed, waved it
about as signal for the others that they
might come with safety. They soon came
and clustered round the body of the dead
lion, some kicking it, others splitting on and
reviling it, and all of them claiming the
honor of having killed him, claim that
they seemed far more interested in defend-
ing than in commiserating the fate of their
dead companion.
ALI the efforts we made 10 release the lat.
ler unfortunate from the jaws of the lion
were unavailing without having recourse TO
our knives, and as there was not the least
doubt Of his being dead, for the teeth of
the powerful brute were buried in his chest
and back, we determined on leaving both
bodies where they were until daylight
The first thing did when awoke was to
look for the bodies of the Arab and the lion.
They were lying were the beast had fallen
in the night, and Ms sdffened jaws still
held the body OF the man az in powerful
vice. The desire of preserving record of
the event for my friends in England to look
al was too strong to be resisted; SO we set
10 work, cut three pieces Of timber to a
point, and having raised the lion TO posi-
tion, kept him up by means of the pieces
of wood. To conceal these, planted q
shrub here and there, which had the desired
effect and the result obtained was neg
alive, the like OF which believe never was
seen. The attitude is as natural as possi-
BILE, and makes one shudder to look at it.