Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1888-05-12
A T,LE OF THREE LIONS
BY II. RIDER EACGAED.
CHATTER III.

OF hin, Which was aoo very much, il tn
bread bag and though whilst b, livcI l.
virtues WIRE not great, roH that he was COZ
we could have wcpt over him. Indeed, UaIr
did weep outright; " hilo l registered Va.t
little vow on my own nccoIa5 that 1 Won
let daylighaa INTO that lioacss before l was &
hours older, II by atiy means It could 10 do2t
"Wc buried him and there he lies whcl'
the lions will not trouble him any moro. So
there is an end of the book of Jim-Jim.
"The question thut now remained was how
20 circuRvent his murdercss. know tha,
she would be sure to return as sooa as she
would be hungry again, but did not know
when she would bo hungry. She had left SO
little of Jim-Jim behind her that l should
scarcely expect to see her tho next nigh.
unless indeed sho had cubs. Still, fclt
that it would not be wise to miss the
chance of her coming, so we set about max
1ns preparations for her reception. Tho first
thing that We did was to strengthen tho bush
wall of the skcrm by dragging large guam
tity>of the tops Of thorn trees together and
laying them one on tho other in such fashion
that the thorns pointed upwards. This, after
our experience of the fate Of Jim-Ji,n, seemed
. very necessary precaution, since if where
enc sheep can jump another can follow, as
the KafiTs say, how much more is this the
case where an animal 50 active and so vigor-
Gus as the lion is concernedi And now came
the further question, how were we to beguile
che lioness to returni Lions are animals that
have a strange knack of appearing when they
are not wanted, and keeping studiously out
Of the way when their presence 10 required.
Harry, who, as 1 have said, was an cmi-
nently practical boyy suggested to Pharaoh
that hs should 60 and sit outside tho skerm In
the moonlight ns sort of bait, assuring him
that he would have nothing to fear as we
would certainly AIN the iioness before she
killed him. Pharaoh, however, strangely
enough, did not seem to take to this suggestion
Indeed, he walked away, much put out with
Harry for having made it.
SIT gave mo an idea, however
"'Well,' + said, sthere is that OK He must
die sooner or later, GO we may as well utilize
him
"Now, about thirty yards to the left of our
sker1n, if ono stood facing down the hill to-
ward tho river, was the sturn., of tree that
had been destroyed by Lightning many years
before, standing equitlistantly between, but
o little in front of, two clr,aee OF bush,
which were severally some fifteen PAGES
eson it.
"Here was tho very place to tie The ok; and
accordingly little before sunset tho poor
animal was led forth By Pharaoh and raaGle
fast there, little knowing, poor brute, for
what purpose; and we commenced our long
vigil, this tin,e without fire, for oar object
was to attract tho lioness and not to scare
har.
''For hour after hour we waited, keeping
ourselves awake by pinchin3 each other-it
q, by tho way, remarkable what difference
On tho force of pinches requisite to tho occa-
SION exists in the mind of pincher and
pinchee-but no lioness came. Tho moon
waved and the moon waned, and then at last
che moon went down, and darkness swal-
lowed up tile world, but. no lion came to
swallow US up. We waited till dawn, because
we did not dare to so to'slcep, and then at
Last we took such rest as we could get.
"That morning we went out shooting, not
because we wanted to, for wo wero too do
pressed and tired !, but because we had no
more meat. For three hours or moro we
wandered about in a broiling sun looking
for something to kill, but absolutely with no
results. For some unknown reason the
game had grown very scarce about the spot,
though when was there two years before
every sort of large game except rhinoceros
and elephant was particularly abundant.
The lions, of whom there were many, alone
remained, and fancy il was the fact of the
game they live on having temporarily lni-
grated that made them SO daring and fero-
cious AS general rule q lion is an amiable
animal enough if he is let alone, but
hungry lion is almost as dangerous as q
hungry man. One hears great many diff
ferent opinions expressed as to whether or
=. fr,,.a l,io
but the result OF my experience is that very
uauch depends upon the state of his stomach.
A hungry lion will not stick at q trife,
whereas full one will lee at very small
scbul;e. ....t. ...
"Well, we hunted all about and nothing
could we see, not even a duck or o bush buck,
and at last, thoroughly tired and out of tenn
per, we started ON our way back to camp,
,passing over the brow of steepish hill to do
90. Just as we got over the ridge froze up
like pointer dog, for there, about GOO yards
20 my left, his beautiful curved horns out
lined against the soft blue of the sky, saw
q noble koodoo bull tstrepsiceros kudul. Even
at that distance-for as you know, my eyes
are very keen-I could distinctly see the white
stripes upon its side when the light fell upon
!. at and its large and pointed ears twitch as the
44ABo WOIEtCu ~
$50 Tar 50 good, but how were wc to get
aE III Tt was ridiculous to risk a shot at that
great distance, and yet both tho ground
aad the wind lay very i'll for stalking. 1t
seemed TO me that the only chance would
De to make 'detour of at least miie or
eaure and come up o. the other side OF the
eedoo. called Harry to my side and cx-
aainsd to Linn what thought would be our
oest course, when suddenly, without any
delay, the koodoo saved us any further
aouble by suddenly starting or down the
mi like leapihg rocket I do1t know what
bad frightened it; certainly we had not.
Perhaps hyena or a leopard-a tiger as we
call it there-had suddenly appeared; at any
ratS of it went, running slightly toward us,
and l never saw q buck go faster. As for
Harry, no stood watching tho beautiful ami
mails course. Presently it vanished behind q
patch of bush, to emerge a few seconds later
about 500 PAGES from us, on a stretch of com
paratively level ground that was strcwn with
powders. On it went, taking the bowldere
In its path in succession Of great bounds
that were beautiful to behold As it did so ]