Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1883-06-28

Tree. fsrssss n s4 S.~48 Fl
aWsll, ne started. and nEer coine
over q good feal Of 9FOnn 4honehR
/ haa decided Cd d il fion. and
turned mr. face homswa My d.
reesson was by Alms, il tfike the
great road hhas runa pnl ths Atlas
eastward into Conskantfne
.sIt was about eight bcIoek one
morning whna had besA some two
hours Ii The sAddle. thaE j emeFpea
fron q marrow valley. Of rarina
throhah Ahioh. the fDad - q. "a to !
sandy plain dotted wit bhalIss ana
scrub.
81 had Just laid the rsins on Ma
rengos neck, when spddenlY he gave
. trsEhenaous nhyI tilat pitched me
7 .,l' sTls - se, 81 sls
roar. z llon sprang rlgns &C bis head.
Il made sure he was on the top Of
him. and so he would have been, bat,
as MarengO wheeled short around
like lightning on his hind legs, the
streaming reins caught the brute's
forepaw, and, as it were, 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 dart
ed away among grove of trees that
stood by the wayside.
$50 intent was the lion on the horse
that he paid no attention to me lying
defenceless 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 open space about dozen
yards across. In the center Of this
Marengo took his stand, with his tail
toward the lion and his head turned
sharply back over his shoulder, watch
ing him.
HE stood quite still, except for the
slight shifting of his hind feet and
lifting of his quarters, which / knew
meant mischief.
1.-The lion probably thought so too.
for he kept lodging to try and take
his opponent by a flank movement.
But the old horse knew his game, and
pivoting on his forelegs still brought
his stern guns to bear on the enemy.
'Soon, with q roar the lion made
his spring. but Marengo lashed out
both heels together with such excel
lent judgment of time and distance
that, catching him full in the chest,
he knocked 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 galloped
through the grove out on the plain
and was safe.
"The lion lay 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 Maren-
60, when he sat up on his launches.
This made me stop.
"As he sat there with his head
loosely wagging from side to side, and
mouth half open, he looked quite va
cant and idiotic.
Suddenly his head, stopped wag-
ging, he pricked up his ears, and'by
the fash Of his eye and changed ex-
preston. / knew he had seen me.
"Only one thing was to be done,
and / did it. The outermost tree was
large and .ow-branched. To it / ran,
and up it l scrambled, and had Just
perched in q fork about fifteen feet
above terra-frma as the lion arrived
at the bottom.
Looking up at me with two red
hot Goals for eyes, his long nervous
tail lashing his sides, every hair on
his body turned to wire, and his great
claws protruded, he chatted at me rs
cat chatters at a bird out of reach.
His jaws snapped like a steel trap,
and his look was perfectly diabolical.
When he was tired of chattering be
stood and growled.
Catching sight of the bride, he
walked to it, smelled it, patted it, and
then came back and lay down and
glared at me.
MY carbine-confcund itl-wal
slung at my saddle. Ny only weap.
on, besides my hanger, was a pocket.
pistol, double-barrelled, and what ir
those days we called breechloader-
that is. the barrels unscrewed to load
and then screwed on again.
It would have been q handy wea.
pom against man at close quarters
for it threw q good bail; but for
lion Besides, the beast was too faI
of.
Then the thought flashed into m,
nrind, where was Cognac?
4 supposed he had run away anC
hidden somewhere. If the lion 90
sight Of him, it would, I knew, b,
soon all over with the poor little fel
low.
AL at once there arose, close a
hand, an awful and familiar veil. /
had q strange. muffled tone, bat Their
was no mistaking Cognac's voice.
Again it came, resonant, long
drawn and sepulchral. It seemed /,
come from inside the tree. Wher
the deuce was he?
The lion appeared utterly aston
ished and turned his ears so far bacI
to listen that they were almost in
side out, when from some hole anon,
the roots Of the tree there popped
small yellow head with long ears.
Down, down. CognacF / cried il
my agony; go back. sirr