The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-03-25

udcC uOW bu0 udLuco CTdCk1luE anu IOarln2
as they bit into the reeds, sending spouts OF
fire twenty feet and more into the air. and
making the hot air dance above 10 in q way
that was perfectly dazzling. But tie reeds
were stu half green and Created. an eno:-
ing toward Me like q, curtain, lying very
low Or account of the wind. Presently,
above the crackliug Of the fire, I heard a
startled roar, then another n another.
So the ions were at home.
81 was beginning to get excited now, for,
as you fellows know, there is nothing in ex-
perience to warm up your nerves like a lion
at close quarters, unless 1t is q wounded
buffalo; and / got still more 80 when 1made
out through the smoke that the lions were
all moving about OH the extreme edge of
the. reeds, Occasionally they would pop
their heads out like rabbits from a burrow,
and then, catching sight Of me standing
about fifty yards out, draw them back
warm behind them, and that they could lot
keep the game up for long; and l was not
mistaken, for suddenly all four of them
broke cover together, the old black-maned
lion leading BY a few yards. Inever saw
perience than those four lions bounding
across the veldt, o~vershadowed by the dense
pail Of smoke and backed by the fiery fur
mace Of the burning reeds.
their road to the bushy kloof, within about
five and twenty yards of me, SO, taking d
lions .shoaideiGthe biack-maHed one:s6
as to allow for an inch or two of motion,
and d sasSh ON hi and ih %y. Sae sae w asa Just begins was
ming to tighten on the trigger, when sud,
denly I went bliud-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 1 was that a
1t was too bad; and such q shot in the open,
tool However, | was, not, going. to be
s sss 'siosa e 1 Honi, Turned s5a driver saa % Bsggsd a aoi
inhplored me not to go, but though as a
general rule I never pretended to be brave
(which | am not I was determined that
would either kill those lions or they SHOULD
come unless BE liked, but l was. going; and
being d pldcky fellow, a Swat by birth, he
shrugged his shoulders, muttered that l was
mad or bewitched, and followed doggedly
in my tracks.
"We 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
where. Ipeeped and poked and looked in
every possible direction, with my heart in
my mouth, and was at last rewarded by
catching q 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. I whipped
round and let drive a SNAP shot that tipped
him head over heels, breaking bis back
and there he iay helpless but glaring. Tom
afterward killed him with his assegai. l
opened the breech of the gun and hurriedly
pulled out the old case, which, to judge
from what ensued, must, l suppose, have
s sacss sa TO the bsf barrel a portion At any ST r sss f whea
I tried to get in the new case it would
not enter 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 I stepped
backward, trying to push in the new case,
and as I did SO she moved on in little runs,
dropping down after each run. The danger
was imminent, and the case would not go
in. At the moment I oddly enough thought
of the cartridge-maker, whose name I will
the lion got me SOME condign punishment
would overtake him. 1t would not go in, sd
I tried to pull it out. 1t would not come out
either, and my gun was useless II l could
not shut it to use the other barrel. l might
as well have had no gun. Meanwhile was
walking backward, keeping my eye on the
~lioness, who was creeping onward on her
belly without a sound, but flashing her tail
and keeping her eye on me; and in 1t l saw
that she was coming in a few seconds more.
hand against the brass rim of the cartridge
till the blood poured from them-look, there
are the scars Of it to this dayw
Here Quatermain held up his right hand
to the light and showed US seven or eight
white cicatrices just where the wrist is set
into the hand.
"But it was not of the slightest use,' he
went IN 1.-THE cartridge would not move. l
only hope that no other man will ever be
put in such an awful position. The lioness
self up for lost, when suddenly Tom shouted
out from somewhere in my rear:
"'You are walking on to the wounded
cub; turn to the right
81 had the sense, dazed as I was, to take
the hint, and Slowing round a tright angles,
but still keeping my eyes on the. lioness, ]
continued my backward walk.
ITO my intense relief, with q low growl
she Strengthened herself, turned and
bounded off further up the kloof.
"'Come on, Inkoos,s said Tom, let's get
back to the wagon
"tAIl right, Tom,' I answered. T will
when I have killed those three other lions,
for by this time l was bent on shooting
anything before or since. You can go if
you like, or you car get up a tree.'
she considered the position a little, and
then he very wisely got up a tree. I wish
that l had done the same.
Meanwhile l had got. out my knife,
which had an extractor in 1t, and succeeded
after some difficulty in hauling out the case
which had SO nearly been the cause Of my
death, and removing the obstruction in the
barrel. 1t was very little thicker than a
postage-stamp; certainly not thicker than
a piece of writing-paper. This done !
loaded the gun, bound my handkerchief
round my wrist and hand to staunch the
flowing eff the blood aud started on again.
81 had noticed that the lioness went into
a thick green bush, or rather cluster OF
bushes, growing near the water, for there
was a little stream running down the kloof,
about fifty yards higher up, and for this |
made. When 1 got there, however, I could
threw it into the bushes. I believe that it
hit the other cub, for out it came with a
rush, giving me a broadside shot of which
I promptly awaited myself, knocking it
over dead. Out, too, came the lioness like
managed to put the other bullet into her
ribs, so that she rolled over three times like
a shot rabbit. | instantly. got two more
cartridges into the gun, and as 1 did SO the
llOness got up again and came crawling
toward me OF her forepaws, roaring and
grooming, and with such an expression OF
diabolical fury on her countenance as
had not often seen. l shot her again
through tne cneSC, ana Sne Tell over ON &c
her side quite dead.
THAT was the first and last time that
ever killed a brace of ions right and left,
and, what is more, l never heard of any
body else doing it. Naturally 1 was con
siderably pleased with myself, and having
again loaded up, went on to look for the
black-maned beauty who had killed Kap
tein. Slowly and with the greatest care ]
proceeded up the kloof. searching every
bush and tuft of grass as 1 went. 1t was
wonderfully exciting work, for I never was
sure from one IN to another but thai
he would be on me. l took comfort, how
ever, from the reflection that a lion rarely
attacks a m~an-rarely, say; sometimes
he does, as you will see-unless he i.
cornered or wounded. 1 must have been
nearly an hour hunting after the lion
Once I thought l saw something move in q
clump of tambouki grass. but could not
could not find him.
"At last I got up to the head of the kloof
1t was formed of a wall of rock about fifty
| - ~ - - Hal.