Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1888-02-23
A TALE OF THREE LIONS.
BIZ n. RIDER HAGaARD.

him, and he became quite anxious to see his
majesty face to face. got my rife handy
and gave Harry his-n Westly Richards fall.
ing block, which is very useful gun for q
youth, being light and yet a good killing
rifle-and then we waited.
"For a long time nothing happened, and |
began to think that the best thing that we
could do would be to go to sleep again, when
suddenly heard q sound more like cough
than roar within about twenty yards of the
skerm We ell looked out, but could see
nothing; and then followed another period
of suspense. 1t was very trying to the
nerves, this waiting for an attack that might
be developed from any quarter, or might not
be developed at all; and though was an old
hand at this sort Of business, was anxious
about Harry, for it is wonderful how the
presence of anybody to whom. one is attached
unnerves a man in moments Of danger, and
that made me nervous know, although il
was now chilly enough, could feel the per-
spiration running down my nose, and In order
to relieve the strain on my attention, en-
ployed myself in watching beetle which ap-
peared to be attracted by the freight, and
was sitting before it thoughtfully rubbing his
antennB against each other.
Suddenly the beetle gave such q jump
that he nearly pitched headlong into the fire,
and SO did we all-gave jumps, l mean, and
no wonder for from right under the skerm
fence there came a most frightful roar-a
roar that literally made the Scotch cart
shake and shake and took the breath out
of me.
Harry made an exclamation, Jim-Jim
howled outright, while the poor oxen, who
were terrified almost out of their hides, shiv.
cred and lowed piteously.
1.-THE night was almost entirely dark now,
for the moon had quite set and the clouds
had covered up the stars, so that the only
light that we had came from the fire, which
by this time was burning up brightly again.
But, as you know, freight is absolutely use
less to shoot by, 1t is so uncertain, and besides
it penetrates but a very little way into the
darkness, although if one is in the dark out.
side one can see it from SO far away.
Presently the oxen, after standing still
for moment, suddenly winded the lion and
did what / feared they would-began to
SHREK that is, to try and break loose from
the trektow to which they were tied, and
rush off madly into the wilderness. Lions
know of this habit on the part of oxen, which
der the sun, sheep being a very Solomon
compared to them, and it is by no means I'M
common for lion to get in such position
that herd or span of oxen may wind him,
SHREK, break their reins and rush Off into the
bush. OF course, once they are there they
are helpless in the dark; and then the lion
chooses the one that he loves best and eats
him at his leisure.
"Well, round and round went our six poor
oxen, nearly trampling us to death in their
mad rush; indeed, had we not hastily tum-
bled out of the way we should have been
trampled to death, or at the least seriously
injured As it was, Harry was run over,
and poor Jim-Jim being caught by the trek
tow somewhere beneath the arm, was hurled
right across the skerm, landing by my side
only some PAGES off.
''Snap went the disselboom of the cart be-
meath the transverse strain put upon it. Had
it not broken the cart would have overset; as
it was in another minute, oxen, cart, trek
tow, reims, broken disselboom, and every
thing were soon tied in one vast heaving,
plunging believing and seemingly inextrica-
BILE knot.
For moment or two this state Of affairs
took my attention of from the lion that had
caused it, but while was wondering what
on earth was to be done next, and what we
bush and were lost, for cattle frightened in
this manner will go right away like mad
things, it was suddenly recalled in a very
painful fashion.
For at that moment perceived by the
light of the fire kind Of CLEAN of yellow
travelling through the air toward us.
"'The lion the lionr holloaed Pharaoh,
and as he did so he, or She for it was q great,
6oI nil nit n
hunger, lit right in the middle Of the skerm,
and stood there in the smoky gloom and
dashed her tail and roared. l seized my rife
and fired it at her, but what between the con-
fusion and my agitation and the uncertain
lightsI missed her and nearly shot Pharaoh
The flash of the rifle, however, threw the
whole scene into strong relief, and wild one
it was, l can tell you-with the seething mass
of oxen twisted all around the cart in such q
fashion that their heads looked as though
they were growing out Of their rumps and
their horns seemed to protrude from their
backs; the smoking fire, with just blaze in
the heart of the smoke Jim-Jim in the fore
ground, where the oxen had thrown him in
their wild rush, stretched out there in terror;
and then, as q center to the picture, the
great, gaunt lioness glaring round with
hungry, yellow eyes, roaring and whining as
she made up her mind what to do.
at did not take her long, however-just
as long as it takes fash to die into dark
ness-for before I could fire again or do any
thing, with most fiendish snort she sprang
| upon poor Jim-Jim.
81 heard the unfortunate lad shrek, and
then almost instantly saw his legs thrown
| into the air. The lioness had seized him by
the neck, and with sudden jerk thrown his
| body over her back so that his legs hung
down at the further side.
'sThen, without the slightest hesitation,
| and apparently without any difficulty, she
| cleared the skerm fence at a single bound,
| and, bearing poor Jinl-Jim with her, vanished
| into the darkness beyond in the direction of
| the bathing place that / have already de-
scribed We jumped up, perfectly mad with
| horror and fear and rushed after her. firing
shots at haphazard, on the chance that she
would be frightened by them into dropping
her prey, but nothing could we see and moth
| ing could we hear. The lioness had vanished
! into the darkness, taking Jim-Jim with her,
and to attempt to follow her till daylight was
madness. We should only expose ourselves
| to the risk of a like fate.
$50 with scared and heavy hearts we crept
back to the skerm and sat down to wait for
| daylight, which now could not be much more
| than an hour Off. 1t was absolutely useless
to try even to disentangle the oxen till then
so all that was left for us to do was to sit and
| wonder how it came to pass that one should
be taken and the other left, and to hope
| against hope that our poor servant might
have been mercifully delivered from the lion:
jaws. At length the faint light came steal
ing like ghost up the long slope Of bust
and glinted on the tangled oxen's horns
and with frightened faces we got up ant
set to the task of disentangling the oxen til
such time as there should be light enough Il
enable us to follow the trail Of the liones
| which had gone off with Jim-Jim. And her
q fresh trouble awaited us, for when at last
with infinite difficulty, we had got the grea
helpless brutes loose, it was only to find tina
one of them was very sick. There was NJ
mistake about the way he stood with his leg
| slightly apart and his head hanging down