The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1888-04-14

the claws OF another lion or by the horn
Of a buffalo. and was just beginning to
heal. The boast had all the advantage
of me. and bis running away could be
laid to nothing but cowardice. but he
was to redeem himself.
When we had gone into camp that
evening there were fifty people of us,
with four or Eve wagons, score of
horses, and from thirty to forty bull
locks. We made quite a village; and a
noisy one. just while the supper fires
were being replenished, and when
everybody was moving about. this same
lion came out of thick piece of woods,
roaRed loudly. and then walked straight
aShs. His roar aroused us, but no one
supposed he would come nearer.
The old fellow came forward at
dignifed gait until he had
traversed half the distance. and
then, making half dozen long bounds.
he entered camp. No one was ready
for him, and there was great scatter
ing. Some of us spraug for trees, and
others dived into the tents; and such
row among horses and oxen you never
heard. The old lion stood in clear
spot in the center 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 acow. rolled her
over, and then fastened his teeth into
her neck and drew her ont of camp,
passing so close to one Of the fires rs to
drag the hind legs of the COW over the
Goals. As soon as he was clear of the
camp a dozen of us sprang 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
dog. and to make q comparison of
strength we ordered four natives to take
hold of the carcass. They could barely
move it. It took seven of them to drag
it back to the fires, and they had . hard
tug at that.
The next adventure showed both the
bravery and fierceness of the animal in
one. l had been out alone with my
rife, and was ON my way back to camp.
and at about five o'clock in the evening
skirted sink or water hole on the edge
of dense wood. Suddenly a lion ut
tered a terrific roar. and / looked up to
find big fellow facing me. He 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 three hundred feet away,
and know at first glance thbt he was
mad. His name was up. his tail switch
ing. and he meant fight He could
have been under cover at q jump. and
thus avoided me altogether. and this
would have been characteristic of a lion
disturbed at that hour of the day.
brought my rife down, aimed to hit
him between the eyes. and pulled the
trigger. The ball grazed his skull.
knocking him down and making him
crazy for moment. suspected from
his antics that he was only touched.
and knew that as soon as hs had gath
cred himself he would come for me.
he was whirling round and round and
rolling over. and there was no show for
fair shot / therefore made bolt for
the nearest tree, and ! was Just of the
ground when the lion screamed out.
and I dropped my gun to get above his
reach.
It was = close call for me. The
blood blinded him as he made his
spring, and the paw which struck at
me passed clear of my body. He went
to the ground in heap, rolled over
two or three times, and before he was
up I was out of reach. got q seat
about twenty live feet from the ground,
and the way that old fellow ragged and
raved for the next quarter of an hour
was circus to see. He had been In
ill-temper before l raked his skull. 30
was now 10 mad that he would have
faced . regiment Of men. From the
limb where 1 sat to the next, ten feet
higher, the tree was smooth. and did
not dare attempt to climb 1t. ! was
Just safe and no more. The enraged
beast made all sorts of attempts to.
reach me. even trying to climb. but
was safe. Several times he ran back
on the plain few rods and then came
for me Hail Columbia, springing up to
within three or four feet Of my perch
but mover coming high enough. His
repeated failures angercd him still
further, and II lion ever lost his head
and got mad from nose to tail that fol-
loxrr LID Who.. L.. &~-l - 1919