Kimball enterprise. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1883, 1883-06-15
HORSE AGAINST LION.
An Exciting Adventure in the Wilds
of Algiers.

company, one glorious September even
ing in the little moon lighted garden of
the hotel at Algiers is neither here nor
there.
The story-teller IVES good-lookinc
man OF 90, with beard grayer than his
head, and merry twinkle in his eve.
What he said l shall repeat. for the sake
OF clearness. in the first person, Just as
he told the story himself:
'"fhe adventure Of which l am going
to tell you, gentlemen, happened to me
good many years ago. 1t was my first
serious interview witha lion. T,il,e most
serious things, it had comic side TOO Too
- was young man then, and had
been some half dozen years in Constan.
tine, farming in partnership With q
friend, an old colonist, whose acouaint.
ance made on board ship coming ont
from Marseilles. o"'
Our business was corn and cattle rais.
. ing, and we did very we'll together until
my partner died after that | took a dis.
like to the place. l thought I would
shift my ground into this province. Al
glers, push toward the frontier, and Get
q grant of government land and make a
farm OF it,. So getting a neighbor to give
an eye to things in myabsence, started
on my prospecting expedition.
say |, but should say we, for there
were three of us, sworn comrades as
ever We're.
First there were your humble ser.
vaLt; secondly there was INV horse Ma.
rengo, and better never looked
through bride. He was bred between
: Barb sire and English mare belonging
to the Colonel of chasseurs, of whom |
brought him in town when his regiment
was going home. He stood about fifteen
hands two, carried the Barb head, and
the rest of his body was all bone and
muscle. His temper was as good as his
courage was high; and he would follow
me about like a dog, but he had one fail
ing, and that was an insuperabe obiec-
ton to the close proximity Of anything.
exceps one thing, that stood on four legs.
we al! have our peculiarities, and this
was his. Bipeds were all very well, but
multiply the legs by two, and he let fly
Immediately, and never missed his aim.
Such was Marengo,
Thirdly, there was Cognac, the faith
fullest, the most honest, the oldest, and
the wickedest little dog the world ever
saw. He was more like terrier than
anything else, with short yellow coat,
a tox's head, very long ears, and very
short tail. The shrillness of his bark
pierced your ears like knife, but the
awfuness ofhis howl-he always howled
if left alone-baftles description. Dur
ing the fourteen years had him he sell
dom left me day or night, on journey
he would run beside, and when tired
get up and sit in my wallet. The great
pleasure Of his life was to get I'D and
steal behind people and secretly bite
their legs.
BY some mysterious affinity he and
Marengo We're friends from the first.
They now sleep under the same tree.
Well, we started, and after going over
a good deal of ground l thought l had
decided on location, and turned my
face homeward. My direction was by
Alma, to strike the great road that runs
under the Atlas eastward into Constan-
tine
1t was about s o'clock one morning,
when l had been some two hours in the
saddle, that l emerged from a narrow
valley, or ravine, through which the
road ran, on to a sandy plain dotted
with bushes and shrub.
II had just laid the reins on Marengo's
neck when suddenly he gave tremen-
dous shy that pitched me clear off.
The next minute, with a horrible
io.'i q iipii SpistiiS liSdl ~ LIS Iittth.
81 made sure he was on the top of
him, and so he would have been, but as
Marengo wheeled short round like
lightning on his hind legs the streaming
reins caught the brute's fore-paw and.
as it We're, tripped him, SO that he fell
sideways on the road.
''The heavy jerk nearly brought the
horse down, but the throat-lash broke,
the bride was pulled over his ears and,
recovering himself, he darted away
among grove Of trees that stood by the
wayside.
80 intent was the lion on the horse
that he paid no attention to me lying de-
fenseless before him.
Crawling swiftly along the ground,
he pursued Marengo, whom | gave up
for lost--for his chance against the 1.-THE
brute among the trees seemed hopeless.
However, as luck would have it,
there was an open space about q dozen
yards across. In the center of this Mar
engo took his stand with his tail toward
the lion and his head turned sharply
back over his shoulder, watching him.
"He stood quite still, except for the
slight shifting of his feet and lifting of
his quarters, which l knew meant mis-
''The lion probably thought SO too, for
He hSpl uOuglilS 10 Wy aliu tahS ltio "
ponent by flank movement. But the
old horse knew his game: and plvotlng
on his fore-legs still brought his stern
guns to bear on the enemy.
'tSoon with roar, the hon made his
spring, but Marengo lashed out both
heels together, with such excellent
judgment of time and distance that,
catching him full in the chest, he knock
ed him all of heap to the ground,
where he lay motionless. Then with a
neigh of triumph and a flourish of his
heels away he gailoped through the
grove out on to the plain and was safe.
''The lion lav so still that thought he
was dead, or at any rate quite hors de
combat, and:was just running to pick up
the bride and follow Marengo, when he
sat up or his launches. This made me
stop.
Gas he sat there with his head loose
ly wagging from side to side, and mouth
half open. he looked quite vacant and
idiotic.
Suddenly his head stopped wager
ing, he prcked his ears, and by the
fasr of his eye changed expression, l
knew he had seen me.
Only one thing was to be done, and
L did it. The outermost tree was large
and low -branched. To it ran and up
If 7 ccrouh]aI and had inst parchel in