St. Landry democrat., 1884-07-12
= IN DOUBLE DANGER.

A strange Adventure.

time (SalQ captain MI Dub The
Queerest ever had was one that | made
(somewhat unexpectedly, as you will
see) upon the Great Fish River, in South
Africa, on my way back from hunting
excursion.
AS I neared the bank l saw that the
river was in full flood, more than twice
its usual breadth, and running like
milI-race I knew at once that Isholild
have very tough job to get across-for
u flooded African river is no joke, / can
tell you. But | knew also that my wife
would be terribly anxious if didn't
come back on the day that | bad fixed
South Africa being a place where a
good many things may happen to man
and so determined to chance it.
Just at the waters edge | found an
old Bushman that I knew well. who had
a boat OF his own, so | hailed him at
once:
swell, Kaloomi, what will you take
to put me across the river?"
mo 60 fifty dollar this time, baas''
(master), said the old fellow, in his
half-Dutch, half-English jargon. "Boat
no get cross to-day; water greed
(grea)n'
And never bit could persuade him,
although I offered him money enough
to make any ordinary Bushman Jump
head first down 8 precipice Money
was good. he said, but it would be no
use to him when he was drowned; and,
in short, he wouldn't bulge
well, if you won't put me across, >
said at last, lend me your boat, and
I'll lust do the Job for myself; / can t
very well take my horse with me, so I'll
just leave him here in pledge that I'll
pay for the boat when come back. > s
Keep horse for you, master, quite
willing; but 'spoSe you try cross to-day
YOU never come back to ask for him. =
He spoke so positively that, though
I'm not easily frightened, [ certainly
did feel rather uncomfortable. How
ever, 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 the stream
like an arrow. saw in a moment that
there was no hope of padding her
across, and that all | could do was just
to keep her head straight. But hadn' t
the chance of doing even that very
long, for Just then big tree came driv-
ing along, and hitting my boat full on
the quarter, smashed her like an egg
shell. had just time to clutch the pro-
iecting 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 was so reioiced at escaping
Just when all seemed over with me,
that / didn't think much of what was
to come next; but before long / got
something to think of with a ven
geance The tree, as I've said, was a
large one, and the branch end (the OPP
posite one to where / sat) was all one
mass of green leaves. All at once, just
as / was shifting myself to safer place
among the roots, the leaves G,7ddenly
shook and parted, and oat peeped the
great yellow head and fierce eyes OF an
enormous lion!
/ don't think I ever got such fright
in my life. My gun had gone to the bot
tom along with the boat, and the only
weapon had left was short hunting
knife, which against such beast as
that would be no more use than q
bodkin. | fairly gave myself up Tor
lost, making sure that in another mo-
ment he'd spring forward and tear me
to bits.
But whether it was that he had al
ready gorged himself with prey, or
whether tas l suspect) he was really
frightened at finding himself in such a
scrape, he showed no disposition to at
tack me. so long at least as | remained
still. The instant / made any move.
ment. however, he would begin roaring.
and flashing his tail, as if he were going
to fall On me at once. So. to avoid pro-
voking him, I was forced to remain
stock-still, although sitting so long in
one ,sltion cramped me dreadfully
There we sat, Mr.. Lion and |. staring
at each other with all our might "a
very picturesque group, no doubt Il
there had been anybody there to see it.
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, wheels, trees,
bushes and the carcasses of drowned
horses and cattle went whirling past us
upon the thick brown water.
All at once / noticed that the lion
seemed to be getting strangely restless,
and turning his great head from side
to side in a nervous kind of way, as if
he saw or heard something he didn' t
like. AT first / couldn't imagine what
on earth was the matter with him, but
presently caught sound which scared
me much worse than it had done the
lion. Far in the distance could hear
dull, booming roar, which | had
heard too often not to recognizes at
once; we were nearing waterfall!
/ had seen the great falls of the Fish
River more than once, and the bare
4houohf nf haiDr rarriPd over those