Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1877-02-05
THE LIONS EMBRACE.


away into the cover of evergreen oak,
or ilexes, groaning at the same time as
if much hurt The next morning the
Arabs were ordered to bring their horses
from the encampment, while they set off
to follow the traces of the wounded
beast. The Arabs assisted in the search,
keeping, however, at respectful dis
tance, amid tufts of broom and diss, or
tall grass-but we must let our hunter
relate his experience of a lions embrace
in his own words, for such EXPERIENCES
are not of everyday occurrence.
Suddenly powerful roar came forth
from the midst of one of these tufts,
and saw the lion raise up, and with
the first bound he came within six yards
of where l stood. Flurried by the i'm
minence of the danger, fired without
taking aim; and had barely time to
press ~E RgGsasr @Rgss fell Fl upon me, crushing
me down. | was overthrown, my head
downward; the lion was over me and
had my right arm between his jaws.
Obeying the instinct of preservation, l
endeavored to obtain possession of my
pistols with the left; but they had fall
en- out of my waistband when l was
struck down. I was thus left helpless
against my terrible adversary, without
any other means of defence than my
arms, one of which was paralyzed in the
ANIMALS mouth.
''The lion, however, let 60 my arm,
and sought to catch me by the head F.;
the spring which he took from behind
to effect this caused me to slip under
him, but his tooth took my lower lip in
the movement, and cut it down to the
chin. By superhuman effort, l seized
the lion by the name, over the ear, and
slipping my thumb under its lower jaw,
1 managed to keep it at distance ;
another movement made me slip further
so that he could no longer catch my
hand without changing my position
but he seized my arm second time and
bit severely. All this had taken much
less time than has been occupied in dis
cription. Never having lost my senses.
l then shouted out, Here captain !
helpr But in vain. was alone.
"My strength began to fail me, in
consequence of the prolonged resistance
1 had opposed to my adversary, and the
pain that his bite gave me. | was in
deed sinking, when | perceived that the
lion was less vigorous, and that he ap-
peared even as if about to let me 90.
This inspired me with new courage, and
also gave the captain time to come to
my help, and to discharge the double
barrel rifle into the fanks of the ami
NAL. Happy for me the balls had no
impetus, or they would have gone
through me as we'll. 1t was afterwards
ascertained that these balls, not being
conical, only penetrated an inch or two,
whereas my last ball, having struck it
In the breast, had injured 1t both in the
lungs and region of the heart.
"These two new wounds hence only
increased the fury of the beast, which,
letting 60 of my arm, seized me by the
shoulder, the only part that he could
lay hold of; then, rising upon his hind
legs, he bounded towards the bottom of
the ravine, carrying me with him. This
was terrible moment, and l thought l
had reached my last. AS he went along
my head struck against tree, and my
back chafed on the rocks; nevertheless
I shouted out;
Captain, take my gun it has still
one barrel loaded.
81 do not know if he heard me, but
he did nothing.
at was in these frightful tOrtures
that l arrived at the bottom of the ra-
vine, always borne along by the lion,
but also holding by him with the left
hand. This resistance irritated him SO
much that he made two desperate efforts
to shake me off, and l felt my shoulder
cracking in his jaws.
Suddenly saw him sink down and
fall over on his left side, his hindquar-
ters pressing my legs; the lion was ex-
piring 1t was high time. let go the
name, and clutching by tuft of grass
l raised myself by supreme effort,
STEPPED over the prostrate beast, and
climbed up to the point from whence ne
had dragged me. There the pain in my
arm became agonizing, and trying to move
it the arm and fingers both obeyed my
will l saw with JOY no bones were brok-
en-, only the arm had been frightfully
bitten.
This terrible struggle, which had last
ed only from two to three minutes,
nearly cost the lion hunter his life. He
was conveyed on horseback to his tent,
| and thence to Banta. in a vehicle sent