The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1888-02-10
CHAPTER III.

and it had rolled down the sloping rock into
the water
CHAPTER III.
"Poor Jim-Jim We buried what was left |
of him, which was not very much, in an old |
bread bag, and though whilst he lived his |
virtues were not great, now that he was gone |
we could have wept over him. Indeed, Harry |
did weep outright; while I registered quiet |
little vow on my own account that l would |
let daylight into that lioness before was 4s |
hours older, IL by any means it could be done.
"We buried him and there he lies where
the lions will not trouble him any more So
there is an end of the book of Jim-Jim.
"The question that now remained was how
to circumvent his murderess. / knew that
she would be sure to return as soon as she
would be hungry again, but did not know
when she would be hungry. She had left so
little of Jim-Jim behind her that should
scarcely expect to see her the next night,
unless indeed she had cubs. Still, felt
that it would not be wise to miss the
chance OF her coming, SO we set about max
ing preparations for her reception. The first
thing that we did was to strengthen the bush
wall of the skerm by dragging a large guam
tity of the tops Of thorn trees together and
laying them one on the other in such fashion
that the thorns pointed upwards. This, after
our experience Of the fate of Jim-Jim, seemed
very necessary precaution, since if where
one sheep can jump another can follow, as
the kafirs say, how much more is this the
case where an animal so active and so vigor-
GUS as the lion is concerned! And now came
the further question, how were we to beguile
the lioness to return3 Lions are animals that
have strange knack Of appearing when they
are not wanted, and keeping studiously out
of the way when their presence is required.
Harry, who, as / have said, was an emf
nently practical boy, suggested to Pharaoh
that he should go and sit outside the skerm in
the moonlight as a sort of bait, assuring him
that he would have nothing to fear, as we
would certainly kill the lioness 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.
ut gave me an idea, however.
"'Well,' said, there is that OK. He must
die sooner or later, so we may as well utilize
him.
Now, about thirty yards to the left of our
skerm, if one stood facing down the hill to-
ward the river, was the stump of a tree that
had been destroyed by lightning many years
before, standing equidistantly between, but
q little in front of, two clumps of bush
which were severally some fifteen PAGES
from it,
''Here was the very place to tie the OK; and
accordingly a little before sunset the poor
animal was led forth by Pharaoh and made
fast there, little knowing, poor brute, for
what purpose; and We commenced our long
vigil, this time without a fire, for our object
was to attract the lioness and not to scare
her.
"For hour after hour we waited, keeping
ourselves awake by pinching each other--it
is, by the way, remarkable what difference
in the force of pinches requisite to the occa-
sion exists in the mind of pincher and
pinchee-but no lioness came. The moon
waxed and the moon waned, and then at last
the moon went down, and darkness swal-
lowed up the world, but no lion came to
swallow us up. We waited till dawn, because
we did not dare to go to sleep, and then at
last we took such rest as we could get.
THAT morning we went out shooting, not
because We wanted to, ior We were too de-
pressed and tired but because we had no
more meat. For three hours or more we
wandered about in q 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 it was the fact of the
game they live on having temporarily Ini-
grated that made them 50 daring and fero-
cious. AS general rule a lion is an amiable
animal enough if he is let alone, but a
hungry lion is almost as dangerous as a
hungry man. One hears a great many diff
ferent opinions expressed az to whether OF
no the lion is remarkable for his courage,
but the result of my experience is that very
much depends upon the state of his stomach.
A hungry lion will not stick at a trihe,
whereas full one will dee at very small
rebuke.
"Well, we hunted all about and nothing
could we see, not even duck OF a 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 a steepish hill to do
SO. Just as We got over the ridge froze up
like pointer dog, for there, about 600 yards
TO my left, his beautiful curved horns out
lined against the soft blue Of the sky / saw
noble koodoo bull (strepsiceros kudu). 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
it and its large and pointed ears twitch as the
flies worried it.
$50 far 50 good but how were we to get
at It'll II was ridiculous to risk a shot at that
great distance, and yet both the ground
and the wind lay very i'll for stalking 1t
seemed to me that the only chance would
be to make a detour of at least q mile or
more and come up ON the other side of the
koodoo called Harry to my side and OK
planned to him what thought would be our
best course, when saddenly, without any
delay, the koodoo saved us any further
trouble by suddenly starting off down ths
hill like a leaping rocket. don't know what
had frightened il; certainly we had not
Perhaps hyena or a leopard-a tiger as We
call 1t there-had suddenly appeared; at any
rate off it went, running slightly toward us
and l never saw buck go faster. AS foi
Harry, he stood watching the beautiful ami
mails course. Presently it vanished behind q
patch Of bush, to emerge a few seconds latei
about 900 PAGES from us, on a stretch Of com
paratively level ground that was strewn Will
powders On it went, taking the bowlder
In its path in succession of great bound
that were beautiful to behold As It did SO
happened TO look round at Harry, and per
ceived to my astonishnent that he had go
his rifle to his shoulder.
"'You foolish boyp calculated, 'surel.
| you are not going to'-and just at that mo
ment the rifle went Off.
sand then l think saw what was, in il
way, one OF the most wonderful things eve
| remember in my hunting experience. Tn
koodoo was at the moment in the air, clearing
| apple of stones with its fore legs tucked u
underneath it, All in an instant the leg
stretched themselves out In a spasmodi
fashion, and il Mt ON them and they double
up beneath 1t. Down went the noble bucl
down on to its head. For a moment II SCENE
TO be standing on its horns, its hind legs hig
in the air, and then over it went and lay still
"Great heavensr said, why, you've hi
himi He's dead
"As for Harry, he said nothing, bu
merely looked scared, as we'll no might.
man, let alone boy might have fired