San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-01-18

hunting knife, which, against such u
beast as that would be no more use
than bodlin. l fairly gave myself
for lost, making sure that in anoth,
moment he'd spring forward and
me to bits.
But whether it was that he had al
ready gorged himself with prey, or
whether Gas / suspect he was really
frightened at finding himself in such a
scrape, he showed no disposition to
attack me, so long at least, as l re-
manned still. The instant | made any
movement, however, he would begin
roaring and flashing his tail as if he
were going to fall on me at once. So
to avoid provoking him, was forced
to remain stock still, although sitting
in one position cramped me dread
ully. 'i@.
There we sat Mr.. Lion and /, star
ing at each other with all our might
a very picturesque group, no doubt, if
there had been anybody there to see
Down, down the 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 carcasses of
drowned horses and cattle went whirl-
ing past us upon the thick brown wa
ter. 'H I'""t.. "o..I"
At once L noticed that the lion was
getting strangely restless, and turn
ing his great head from side to side
in nervous sort of way, as if he saw
or heard something he didn't like.
At first / could not imagine what on
earth was the matter with him, but
presently l caught q sound that scared
me much worse than it had done the
lion. Far in the distance l could
hear dull, booming roar, which I had
heard too often not to recognize at
once; we were nearing waterfall.
l had seen the great falls of the Fish
river more than once, and the bare
thought of being carried over those
tremendous precipices made my very
blood run cold. Yet being devoured
by lion would hardly be much of an
improvement, and as l hadn't the
ghost of a chance being able to swim
ashore, there really seemed to be no
other alternative.
Faster and faster we went-louder
and louder grew the roar of the cata-
ract. The lion seemed to have given
himself up for lost, and croriched down
among the leaves, only uttering a
moaning whine every now and then.
| was fairly at my wits end what to
do, when all of a sudden I caught
sight of something that gave me hope.
A little way ahead of us the river
suddenly, and rocky head
land thrust itself out good way into
the stream. On of the lowest point
of it grew thick clump of trees whose
boughs overhung the water; and it
struck me that # we only passed near
enough l might catch hold of one of
the branches and swing myselfup onto
the rock.
No sooner said than done. l start
ed up, hardly caring whether the lion
me or not, and planted my
self firmly on one of the biggest roots,
where I could take good spring when
the time came. 1 knew that this
would be my last chance, for by this
lime we were so near the precipice
hat I could see quite plainly, a little
way a head, the cloud of spray and
1apor lowered over the great wa
;erfall. Even at the best it was
desperate adventure, and 1 can tell
you that l felt my heart beginning to
hump like a sledgehammer as we
came closer and closer to the point,
md l thought what would happen if 1
missed my leap.
Now or never. | made one spring
l don't think l ever made such an
,ther before nor since) and just
;lutched the lowest bough; and as 1
ragged myself on to it [ heard the
asst roar of the doomed lion mingling
With the thunder of the waterfall as
lie vanished into the cloud of mist that
the precipice.
As for me, it was late enough that
light before l got home, and found
ny poor wife in fine fright about me,
o l thought it just as well, on the
Whole, to keep my adventure to myself,
nd it wasn't till nearly year later
hat sheheard word about my strange