Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-08-30

You 70 0ndefDtAu0 what the 0au&o9 xelal1
was bsfoee III you hon I esQ0pd Hol
know I had been up aIl night and Va
tolerably hungry and tired. had broush
Q flask full Of water with me, and had Jus
emptied II. shst morning; - gtaAA By
good luck, was not at Al thirsty. Blu
for that, / do not know how 4 Ah0ult
have been able TO hold out through gthe
day:
Il usually Is in those deserts, with abiaxs
Of heat, which was reflected from thu
sand about me until 1t seemed to bun .my
skin. / had . broad.brimmed felt hat
with ostrich feathers around it, which
warded of the direct rays; but btill ]
think never felt the sun more Ppres'
sive; perhaps ,it IVES because / VA Meak
from fSstfpg and want Of rest STU !
| kept my self.posscssion, and YVES constant.
| ~ on the watch to take advantage Of IN
opportunity for my escape.
There was Just chance that my men
might muster courage enough to come
down in body to my relief; but be.
lieved them TO be too chicken-heartedt to
approach within squarter Of Q mile Of q
lion, and besides, these was the probabil-
ity that the brute, II he should see them
approaching. would spring upon me and
put me out of suspense ct once"
I asked "H he did mot try to load hia
gun"
"Of course did" he answered, "but
at the first motion / made, the old scoun-
drel lifted his head and growled, - much
- TO say, None of that, my boy, or, II
you do r-If I had persisted, It was clear
that he would have been upon me before
the powder was IN the barrel. he was .
huge old fellow--I think the largest Hon
I ever cav; with long, grizzled name,
and very knowing look. go
"These experienced cd Hons are
amasfnely cunning. He knew perfectly
we'll that my gun was weapon OF some
kind or other; and have no doubt he
knew, too, Of my people being IN the
neighborhood; for every now and then
he would look sharply In the direction of
the wagons On such OCCASIONS could
feel my heart beat violently, and the
Precipitation would start to my Skin"
And no wonder. "But did the lion"
I asked, "remain perfectly quiet through
out the whole dayr"
"No, unluckily he did not" answered
the trader. "His rcstlessness kept me In
constant anxiety. Once troop Of zebras
came suddenly by uA when they saw
the lion they wheeled quickly about,
snorted, and dashed of furiously In an
other direction. The lion rose to his feet
in an instant, turned half round, and look
ed hard at them. Lions are particularly
fond Of the flesh of the zebra, and had
strong hopes that he would leave me and
90 after them. But suppose the cum
ming rascal reflected that . bird in the
hand was worth two in the bush; for he
turned back and lay down again, grum-
bling, and staring harder than ever at
me, as though he meant to say, You see,
my fine fellow, have lost zebra through
you and now ! mean TO make sure OF
you You may believe that in my heart
bestowed few witch's blessings on the
beast but l thought It best TO keep
silence.
"The next alarm came from the direc-
ton of my wagons. l saw the lion look
earnestly in that direction, as he had
done once or twice before, and then rise
to his feet and utter an angry growl, as
though he saw something that did not
please him, / learned sfterward that my
men, urged on by Apollo, had armed
themselves TO the teeth, and advanced to
the top Of the hill. Standing there, with
their wonderfully keen sight, they could
perceive the lion keeping guard over me
but no sooner did they see the brute rise
and turn toward me than they all scam
pered back to the wagons and jumped
into them, frightened almost out Of their
wits.
safer, . little while, the lion crouched
down again before me, stretched out his
paws, yawned and winked, and thought
seemed to be growing tired Of hts watch
But Il was clear that he had made up his
mind TO remain there till night, otherwise
he would have settled my account with
out further delay.
"Toward evening heard low roar
ing, which seemed To be at o great dis
lance II appeared to disturb my lion q
good deal. From the sound knew 1t TO
he the roar of lioness; and thought 1t
likely that the old fellows mate was
looking about for him. He got up and
lay down again two or three times, NOV.
ing about uneasily and smiling the ground
% though he was troubled IN his mind
but he remained silent, and at last the
voice of the uoness passed gradually out
of hearing. This, think, was the most
anxious moment of the whole day TO me.
For II the lion had answered his mate
and called her to him, she would most
likely have been hungry. and In that casa
would not have delayed an instant In
selling upon the nice supper which her
husband was keeping for himself dare
say the cunning old rascal was Of the
same opinion, and 20 thought II best TO
keep his own counsel.
eat last the night came. The starr were
bright, but there was no moon. could
see objects indis,inctly ct short distance,
and could Just discern the outlines Of the
hills TO the eastward. The lion lay quiet
In a shaggy mass, few yards from me.
knew that he was wide awake, and thai
he cav distinctly every motion / made
Occasionally could see his eyes turned
toward me, aiming like two GOALS Of Ore
My last hope now was that by remaining
perfectly sllent and motionless I might
tire him ont or keep him from attacking
me until something happened, - In III
case Of the Hottcntot We were speaking
81, 70 draw him of
"yne this purpoasit was necsasasy the1
/ shOuld remain awake, and this was real
| ~ matter Of the greatest dimculty 70 ma
I was completely worn out q you may
imagine, alter being forty eight hour
without food or sleep, and my mind mas
OF the time wrought up to the highes