The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-03-14
rur KING OF THE FORESTS.
At lines the Lion ts Wonderful
Coward, But Not Always.
E.ona the Nelp York Sun.

From the NelU York Sun.
halieys that every man who has been in
the lion country will agree with me that he
,vonld rather meet full-grown lion under
oIroost any circumstances than an English
bulldog. The hon is the king of beasts only
nov and then Now and then he is the king
Of towards A bulldog is all determination.
A lion schemes and calculates and takes no
chances.
While assisting in the official survey of
+ba northern portion of Cape Colony it was
an almost everyday occurrence to sight q
Ion and the adventures of our party were
numerous, if not perilous. We got SO that
we feared the beasts only at night, or when
wa came upon them at their meals. Almost
the first lion | saw in Africa proved him
elf an arrant coward. / was left to set a
boundary stone between districts while the
sr,,,vevinc party moved on The hunters
were out after fresh meat, the camp was
two miles away, and | was working with
INV back to patch of tall grass with bush
in the center of it. The entire
oartv of us had stood there for quarter of
an hour without seeing or suspecting any
danger. but a hon was all the while con
cealed IN the patch. He kept quiet until the
men we're mile away, and then crept for
ward for a spring at me. | heard move
rnent in my rear as | worked away, and
whirling about found myself face to face
with a full-grown lion. He was crouched for
a spring. and would have been upon me in
another ten seconds. | was terribly scared and
had no time to collect my wits, but did Just
the right thing after all l jumped right
at the brute with loud yell, and he went
bounding away like ball. followed him
into the patch in my excitement, and he
ran out on the open plain, dropping his tail
like cur, and evidently badly ratified. |
had a light spade in my hands, and as he
lodged about to get back to cover hit him
a swinging blow over the rump. He yelled
out like dog hit with a stone, fell over,
made a dash between my legs, and again
got into the grass | followed close upon
his heels yelling at the top of my voice, aud
what did the coward do but bolt for tn
open with his tail dragging in the grass
AS he left cover, flung the spade and struck
him in the side and staggered him. He
growled and showed his yellow fangs, but
there was no fight in him. When | jumped
at him he ran away over the plain toward
broken ground, and after chasing him for
quarter of mile, l gave up and sat down
The men of the party came running up,
amazed and astonished, and even though
they had seen all that happened, they
could scarcely credit their sight and senses.
l knocked the courage all out of the beast
by wheeling on him just at the right
second. By upSetting his plan ! made a
coward of him. Had bull dog meant to
attack me, my turning on him would not
have made the slightest difference.
A few weeks later, while pushing my
way down a deep ravine to reach an emf
nence on which was to display flag to
the surveyor, I turned a bend at trot and
ran square upon lion, who was gnawing
at the bones of some old victim. He lay on
his stomach, head to me, and l did not see
him until / was almost upon him. He
sprang up with a growl, made short spring
and seized me by the left shoulder, and
next moment | was down and he was
standing over me. 1t had come so suddenly
that | was dulnbfounded | did not make
o move or call out. The beast could have
done for me in fifteen seconds had he so
willed, but after he had downed me and
growled a little, he backed off,
and as soon as | moved to
get up he ran away like
scared cat. | had good look at him as he
stood over me, and | noticed long deep
cut, or scratch, on his right foreshoulder
1t had been made either by the claws of
another lion or by the horn OF buffalo.
and was just beginning to heal. The beast
had all the advantage OF me- and his run
ming away could be laid to nothing but
cowardice, but he was to redeem himself
When he had gone into camp that evening
there were fifty people of us, with four or
FIVE wagons, a score of horses, and from
thirty to forty bullocks. We made quite a
village, and a noisy one. Just VIII lie the
supper fires were being replenished, and
when everybody was moving about, this
same lion came out of a thick piece
Of L. H..
straight at us His roar aroused us, but no
one supposed he would come nearer. The
old fellow came forward at digniied gait
until he had traversed half the distance
and then, making half dozen long bounds,
be entered camp. No one was ready for
him, and there was a great scattering.
Some of us sprang for trees, and others
dived into the tents; and such a row among
horses and oxen you never heard. The old
lion stood in clear spot in the centre of
camp, and roared and growled and
switched his tail about and babe us
defiance, and before any one of us could
make ready for a shot at him he
sprang upon a COW, rolled her over,
and drew her out of camp passing so close
TO one of the fires as to drag The hind legs
OF the COW over the GOALS As soon as he
was clear of the camp dozen of us Spraug
out with our guns and fired at him by
sound, and by great good luck two of the
bullets hit him in the head and finished
him. We had seen him drag the cow off as
easily as man could draw the body of a
dog, and to make comparison of strength
we ordered four natives to axe hold of the
carcass, They could barely move it. 1t
took seven of them TO drag it back to the
1res, and they had hard tug at that.
The next adventure showed both the
bravery and fierceneSs of the animal in one.
had been out alone with my rife, and was
on my way back to camp, aud at about )
o'clock in the evening skirted sink or
water hole on the edge OF a dense wood.
Suddenly lion uttered terrific roar, and
looked up 20 find big fellow facing me.
ne had been creeping down the edge OF the
wood, perhaps routed out of his lair by
some of our men, and while he was APP
preaching the pool from one direction was
approaching from the other. He was not
over 800 feet away, and | knew at
ulSt glance that he was mad. His
name was up, his tail switching, and
ne meant fight. He could have been
under cover at a jump, and thus avoided
me altogether, and this would have been
Characteristic of lion disturbed at that
uolr OF the day. l brought my rifle down.
aimed to hit him between the eyes, and
pulled the trigger. The ball grazed his
Shul knocking him down and making him
eIazy lor moment. l suspected from his
antics that he was only touched, and knew
would come for me. He was whirling round
and round and rolling over, and there was
no snow for fair shot. | therefore made
net nd yta4