The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-03-27


the first breech-loader ever had, / startaS'
| took the smoothbore because it shot q
bullet very well; and my experiences bas
been that a round bullet from smoothboIs
is quite as effective against lion as an
express bullet. The lion is soft and NOT q
difficult animal to finish if you hit him
anywhere in the body. A buck takes far
more killing.
''Well, | started, and the first thing set
to work to do was to try to make ont
whereabouts the bruteS lay up for the dav
About three hundred yards from the wagon
was the crest of a rise covered with singla
mimosa trees, dotted about in a park-lil[e
fashion, and beyond this was stretch of
open plain running down to dry pan, or
water hole, which covered about an acre of
ground, and was densely clothed with
reeds, now in the sere and yellow leaf
From the further edge of this pan the
ground sloped up again to great cleft. or
action of water, and was pretty thickly
sprinkled with bush, among which grew
some large trees, | forget of what sort
sit at once struck me that the dry pan
would be likely place to find my friends
in, as there is nothing a lion is fonder of
than lying up in reeds, through which he
can see things without being seen himself
Accordingly thither | went and prospected
Before i got halfway round the pan |
found the remains of blue vilderbeeste
that had evidently been killed within the
last three or four days and partially de-
voured by lions; and from other indca-
lions about | was soon assured that if the
family were not in the pan that day, they
spent good deal of their spare time there
But if there, the question was how to get
them out; for it was clearly impossible to
think of going in after them unless one
was quite determined to commit suicide
Now there was strong wind blowing
from the direction of the wagon, across the
Teedy pan toward the bush-clad kloof or
donga and this first gave me the idea of
firing the reeds, which, as l think | told
you, were pretty dry. Accordingly Tom
took some matches and began starting lit
tie fires to the left, and did the same to
the right. But the reeds were still green at
the bottom, and we should never have got
them well alight had it not been for the
wind, which got stronger and stronger as
the sun got higher, and forced the fire into
them. At last, after half an hours trouble,
the flames got a hold, and began to spread
out like fan, whereupon | got round to
the further side of the pan to wat for the
lions, standing well out in the open, as we
stood at the copSe to-day where you shot
the woodcock. 1t was rather risky thing
to do, but used to be SO sure Of my shoot
ing in those days that did rot so much
mind the risk. Scarcely had | got round
when | heard the reeds parting before the
onward rush of some animal. Now for
it said |. On it came. | could see that it
was yellow, and prepared for action, when
instead of a lion out bounded a beautiful
reit box which had been lying in the shelter
of the pan. 1t must, by the way, have
been a reit box of peculiarly confiding
nature, to lay itself dowr with the lion
like the lamb of prophecy but | suppose
that the reeds were thick, and that it kept
a long way off.
well, | let the reit box go, and, it went
like the wind, and kept my eyes fixed upon
the reeds. The fire was burning like fur
mace now; the flames cracking and roaring
as they bit into the reeds, sending spouts of
fire twenty feet and more into the air, and
making the hot air dance above it in way
that was perfectly dazzling. But the reeds
were still half green and created an enor-
nous quantity of smoke, which came roll
ing toward me like a curtain, lying very
low on account of the wind. Presently,
above the crackliug of the fire, / heard
startled roar, then another and another.
So the lions were at home.
II was beginning to get excited now, for,
as you fellows know, there is nothing in ex-
perience to warm up your nerves like lion
at close quarters, unless it is a wounded
buffalo; and got still more so when made
out through the smoke that the lions were
all moving about on the extreme edge of
the reeds Occasionally they would pop
and then, catching sight of me standing
about fifty yards out, draw them back
again. l knew that it must be getting pretty
warm behind them, and that they could not
keep the game up for long; and was not
mistaken, for suddenly all four of them
broke cover together, the old black-maned
lion leading by few yards. | never saw
a more splendid sight in my hunting ex-
perience than those four lions bounding
across the veldt, overshadowed by the dense
pail of smoke and backed by the fiery fur
mace of the burning reeds.
IL reckoned that they would pass, on
their road to the bushy kloof, within about
five and twenty yards of me, so, taking a
long breath, got my gun well on to the
lions shoulder-the black named one-so
as to allow for an inch or two of motion,
and catch him through the heart. | was
on, dead on, and my finger was just begin
ming to tighten on the trigger, when sud
denly went blind-a bit of reed-ash had
drifted into my right eye. l danced and
rubbed and got it more or less clear just in
time to see the tail of the last lion vanish
ing round the bushes up the kloof.
IF ever a man was mad | was that man.
1t was too bad; and such shot in the open,
tool However, | was not going to be
beaten, so | just turned and marched for
the kloof Tom, the driver, begged and
implored me not to go, but though as a
general rule | never pretended to be brave
(Which am nOt.) L was determined that
would either kill those lions or they should
kill me. SO | told Tom that he need not
come unless he liked, but was going; and
being plIcky fellow, a Swat by birth, he
shrugged his shoulders, muttered that | was
mad or bewitched, and followed doggedly
in my tracks.
I'VE soon got to the kloof which was
about three hundred yards in length and
but sparsely wooded, and then the real fun
began. There might be a lion behind
every bush-there certainly were four
lions somewhere; the delicate question was,
where peeped and poked and looked in
every possible direction, with my heart in
my mouth, and was at last rewarded by
catching a glimpse of something yellow
moving behind a bush. At the same mo-
ment, from another bush opposite me out
burst one of the cubs and galloped back
toward the burnt out pan. / whipped
round and let drive snap shot that tipped
him head over heels, breaking his back
within two inches of the root of the tail,
and there he lay helpless but glaring. Tom
afterward killed him with his assegai.
opened the breech of the gun and hurriedly
pulled out the old case, which, to judge
from what ensued, must, | suppose, have
burst and left portion of its fabric
sticking to the barrel At any rate, when
| tried to get in the new case it would
not entcr half way; and-would you
believe it-this was the moment that
the lioneSs, attracted no doubt by
the cutlery of her cub, chose to
put in an appearance. There she stood,
twenty PAGES or so from me, flashing her
tail and looking just as wicked as it is
possible to conceive. Slowly | stepped