Huntsville gazette., 1885-08-22


rear. They were the same dogs the
officer had seen. and the question was,
how did they distinguish an officer and
. gentleman from the class of persons
they had SO rudely treated, and who. it
appeared, had offered them no volun-
tary violenceP Russell declared that
was clear enough; the guilty-minded
| tramps had manifested signs of fear and
hesitancy at the sight of the animals.
while the gentleman in pursuit of dis
tinct obiect-his shawl-had paid no
timid attention to the watchful crea-
lures.
Colonel Sparks Stabb said: Gentle
men, what | shall tell you is the most
wonderful thing ever heard of, but it is
true, provable and occurred to Iq{ibwn
knowledge. What do you think of a
troop of lions sparing child's life,
and at night. far from any habitation?"
Every one drank in silence, and the
Colonel proceeded: I'm 1872 made
an expedition, partly for hunting pur-
poses, northward from Kuruman. past
Marico on the edge of the desert. right
up to Limpopo Near the banks of
that great river, in the wooded lion
country, we fell in with some Boer
travellers and hunters forming a camp
of four wagons and about twenty-five
persons. They received us with the
usual hospitality-tobacco, coffee, con-
versation and a little Holland gin, and
at night, the usual measures having
been taken to secure our stock from
attack or dispersal, we slept the sleep
of the elephant hunter a much
sounder one, by the way, than that
of the Just who are intolerably
restless people at times. About twelve
o. clock there was an alarm. A little
child, girl aged nine years. one
of the daughters of the famous shot
and licn-killer ViljOen, was missing.
A quiet search made for an hour or so
had failed to find her in any of the
tents or wagons, so it was surmised she
was lost. Our encampment was three
quarters of mile from the great river.
a measure of security adopted because
the actual bottom and banks are at
night positively infested with wild ami
mails going down to drink, and by
lions, which more readily find their
prey at the watering places of their
weaker neighbors. 1t was dark and
no trail of the little girl could be found
or followed through the woods or un-
der the vast forest trees of the river
margin, while wild beasts of all sorts
could be heard passing and repassing,
roaring, moaning. yelling and some
times rushing in flight or screaming
with pain or anger, as they devoured
| ar foil infi fn IN
was entertained for the poor girl
safety. At the first blush of dawn the
Hottentots, Katirs and Beers, all good
fueldstmen and very experienced track
ers, commenced a search for the child.
I. with Captain Patterson. rode with
the unfortunate father. Before the sun
was an hour high the little one was
found asleep in the center of a clump
of giant mimose, quite near the river.
For the affecting incidents of
the moment none of you would
care. The interest of the find to me
lay in the fact that the sand right
through and around the mimOsa tree
clump was marked everywhere with the
spoor of lions, and their foot-marks
were plainly visible everywhere be-
| oWOCH tudb pOlAO bHu tHC AlFCI. AAOV
had the child escaped being devoured?
When aroused by her father she ex-
pressed neither surprise nor any espec-
ial pleasure as one saved from death,
but was simply glad to see him and that
he had brought horse so that she
could ride back to camp.
Were you not afraid? Katerina,
were you not afraid to be alone here in
such a place, away from mother and
me, last nightP' asked the big Dutch
man.
"'No. pa; the big dogs played with
me and we're very good, and one of
them lay here and kept me warm, said
the innocent, unprompted child, indi-
eating the spot where truly was the
mark of some vast recumbent form be-
side that left by herself, which hardly
indented the sand. Now, there were no
dogs footmarks or spoor about; there
were no dogs in that part of the coun-
try nor kindly animals of any sort.
The child had slept with and been pro-
tected by lions. The girl still lives,
| and Colonel Stabb is still in the British
| Army IN Y Times