The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1882-09-07
IN DOUBLE DANGER.
A Strange Adventure.

! tiue (said Capt. M-), but the queere<t
l ever had WAS one that made solue-
what unexpectedly, as you will see) up
on the Great Fish River, in South Africa,
on my way back from Il hunting excur.
sion.
AS neared tho bank saw that the
river was in full flood, more than twice
i its usual breadth, and running like. II
mill,race. knew at once that should
haVea very tough job to get across for
flooded African river is no joke, can
tell you. Bnt knew also that my wife
would be terribly anxious if I didn't
come back on the day that had fixed
South Africa being a place where a good
many things may happen to a man:,ul
81 determined to chance it,
| Just at the waters edge l found al
old bushnlan that knew we'll, who had
il boat Of bis own, so hailei him at
once:
"Well, kaloomi, what will you take,
to put lne across the river"
mo 90 fifty dollar this time, bu:,s'
(master) said the old fellow, in his half
! Dutch, halt-English jargon. Boat no
get Gross to-day; water groed4great)"
And meyer a pit could I persuade bin,
althougIl1 offered him money en- Jngl
,, to 1nak6;;tny ordinary bush1nan jump
head first @lown q precipice. Money
was good, he said, but it would he no
in short, he wouldn't bulge.
"Well, if. You won't put me :lt;ross,"
said at last, "lend me your boat, ana
I'll just do the job for myself; | can't
very we'll take my horse with me, 50 III
inst leave him here in pledge that III
pay for the boat when | come back."'.
keep horse for you, master, quite
willing; but 'spose You try cross to-day
you never come back to ask tor him."
He spoke 50 positively that, although
Pm not, easily frightened, certainly
did feel very uncomfortable. However,
| when you've got to do thing of that
sort, the less you think Of it the better
so jumped into the boat and showed
off,
had barely got clear Of the shore
when found that the old fellow was
right, for the boat shot down llsf stream
like All arrow. | saw in II moment that
there was no hope Of padding her
keep her head straight. But / hadn't
for Just then a big tree came driving
along, and hitting my boat full on the
quarter, smashed her like an egg-sheli
/ had Just time to clutch the projecting
! roots and whisk myself up on to them,
and then tree and went away down
stream together at don't know how
many miles an hour.
At first I was SO rejoiced at es,Tlping
just when all seemed over with me, that
didn't think much ofwhat was to come
next: but before long got something to
think of with a vengeance. The tree, as
I've said, was II large one, and the
branch end 'tlit, opposite one to where
SAT- was all one mass Of green leaves. All
at once, just rs was shifting myself tou
safer place among the roots, the leaves
suddenly shook AMI parted, and Cut
peeped the great yellow head and fierce
eyes OF an enormous lion!
don't think eyer got such a frig Int in
my life My gun had gone to the bottom
along with the boat, and the only wea.
pom | had left was u short hunting knife,
which against such beast as that Woul';
be no more use than a budkin. | F:!irly
gave myself up for lost, nIakiuy sure lhat
in anotI'e, lnonlentle'd spring forward
and tear me to bits
But " neither it WAS hat he had already
gorged himself with prey, or whether
Gas | susptcN he WIS really frightened
at finding himself in such s.rlpe,< lie
showed no disposition TO t,ttack me, ii
long ut least as rcnlained still 'A4e ius
start made amy movement, however.
ne would beYiii roaring and flashing his
tai, rs IT he were going to fall on nl~
at once. So, to avoid provoking him,
was forced to remain stock still, although,
sitting 80 long in one position cran1ped;
ME dreadtnlE.,} 4. .~-s a<
at each other With all our might a very
had been anybody there to see it.
Down. down tie stream We went, the
banks Seeming to race past us as if we
were going by train, while: all around
broken timber, wagon wheels, trees,
bushes, and the carasScs Of drowned
horses and cattle went whir]ing past Us
upon the thick brown wafer =:
All at once:I nrticedi tllt the ylion
seemed to be getting strangely restless,
and turning his great head from side to
side in a nervous kind Of Il way, us it he
saw or heard something he didn't like
At first L couldn,t i!nagi1ie wllat, On earth
was the matter with l'inl,fbut prescntIv4
esagh sound wAicl scared me much
worse than it had done the lion Far in
the distance 1 could hear /. dull, boom
ing roar, which lad heard too often
not to recognize ut once; We were
nearing u waterfall!
l. had seen the great falls of the Fish
river more than once, and the bare
thought OF being carried over those TIRE
mendous precipices made my very
blood run cold. s'Yet being devollreu by
Il lion would hardly he much of an ip-
proVement, and sas'l hadn't Che ghost of
a. chance of being able to- swim ashore,
there really seemed to be- no other alter
native.
Faster and faster we went -louderund
louder grew the roar of the cataract; the
hon seemed to have given himselfup for
lost, and =croucling down among the
leaves, only uttering' /, low moaning
whine every now and then. | WAS fair
ly at my wits end what to do, when all
of a sudden caught sight of something
that gave me glance Of hope.
a little way ahead OF us the river mar
rowed suddenly, and a rocky headland
thrust itself out a good way into the
stream. On one Of the lowest points of
it grew thick clump of trees. whose
boughs overhung. the water; anlsh
struck me that, If we only passed near
of one of the branches and swing my
self up to the rock.
No sooner said than done. ! started
up, hardly caring whether the lion at
tackled me or not, and planted myself
firmly upon one of the biggest roots,
where l could take a good spring when
the time came. knew that this would
be my last chance, for by this time we
were so near the precipice and 1 could
see quite plainly, a little way ahead, the
great cloud of spray and vapor that how
cred over the great waterfall. Even at
the best'it wasa desperate venture, and
Z can tell You that Tfelt by heart begin
ming to Hthump like a ledge-hammer as
we came closer and closer to the point,
and thought what would happen if I
missed my leap. gEfgr,,
Just as we neared it, it happenedsby
the special mercy of God that our tree
struck against something and turned
fairly crosswise to the current, the end
with the lion on it swinging out into
mid-stream, while my end was driven
close 10 the rock on which the clump Of