The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-08-03
BLUFFED BY A YANKEE.
A Story About Chick en- Hearted For
egners and Couple of Lions.

coast of Africa, we soon bargained with the
owner of suitable boat for trip up the
Senegal river in search of menagerle stock.
For a certain sum he was to obey our
orders for thirty days, besides furnishing
all articles of food and drink. There were
three white men OF us, and each of US had
two servants, while there were seven or
eight men belonging to the boat We had
no carg o except the goods and cages be
| longing the meDagerie expedition, and the
! boat was n craft somewhat resembling an
American canal boat, but very light, and
| propelled by three oarsmen on side.
| What we wanted was to capture some OF
| the big lions of the great Sahara desert, and
we had been shipped away from Gibraltar
very quietly to try new idea in animal
| hunting
Now, while had long been in the en-
| ploy of n German house, and could rattle
off he language faster than any native
| born, ! was still Yankee from top to toe,
and it did not take more than two words
against my country to set me on edge.
| When we made our fourth camp up the
river we Were good fifty miles above salt
water and i'll the lion country. What was
my disgust to find a large party ahead or
| us-not animal catchers but animal killers.
| There were five or six English army ana
naval officers, with large retinue OF serv-
French civilians. All the officers were on
| leave of absence and out for grand lion
hunt. When they found were only
nnenagerie men their welc grew cold
very fast. They had come to meet the king
| of beasts in the open and give him chance
for his life. We had come to effect his cap
| ture and degradation by undetermined
| measures ! can see now why they should
have felt contempt for our vocation, albeit
| it was an honest one and one requiring
| courage but couldn't see it then. There
| fore, certain remarks let fall that night in
my hearing nettled me, and aroused all my
Yankee pride. My companions were like
wise indignant, and as we turned In for
the night, our boat at the bank in front
of their camp, it would not have taken
much more to bring about an open rup-
ture.
Two of the hunting party were partlcu-
larly offensive-an English paymaster and
"a French civilian. The latter had a title OF
some sort, and was looked up to on account
of it. The paymaster talked because he
saw that it diSpleased us; the Frenchman
because he was both ignorant and con
4, ceited The point they aimed to make was
that it took brave man to hunt lion,
while any coward could set a trap for him.
| Now each one of us had not only downed
our lion in fair fight, but our tiger as well,
and we talked it over before going to sleep,
and determined not to move on next day,
we had at first intended. We needed no
assurance from our boatmen that we were
in the lion country. To the north of US
stretched the great desert of sand and
shrub, and before 10 o'clock the voices of
several lions had been heard on the still
night air Next morning we all moved
about three miles up the stream to more
broken country grown up to bushes, and
here, as most of the men were making
L g. 49, httr, fhn
took occasion to express his surprise to me
that we had guns along. He supposed, he
said. that we hid ourselves in trees and
lassooed the lions as they passed beneath,
or that set steel traps in his path and
gave him no show to escape. 1t was
meant for an insult, and | was at white
heat, but | choked down my wrath and
waited.
Weknew from the lay of the ground that
no lion would be found within five miles
of the stream, as the cover was not OF the
right sort, and none of us went out with the
party OF the five or six who did go all
came back footsore, but full of brag. Like
the boy who had almost seen a BEAR" they
had discovered the spoons of lions, and
were greatly excited and encouraged. A
general hunt would be made on the NOR
row.
While the lion generally shakes off sleep
at shutdown, and INDUCES in roar, he sell
dom leaves his cover until an hour or two
later On this night we had full moon
early in the evening. and we know that the
lions would be heard from by o'clock.
The three of us had left the boat, and were
under shelter on the bank below the other
party. We had fully canvassed what was
| to be DONE and had drawn lots to see who
| should be selected. | was the lucky winner.
| 1t was not more than a quarter after nine
when a lion roared, and greatly to our salts
faction we found that he was directly north
of U.S. For a space of 800 feet the ground
was as level as floor. Then it assembled
| slightly for a hundred feet further to
| ridge, beyond which was rocky and broken
| ground. AS we sprang up We made out
| two lions on this ridge. The moon was
clear. and we could see them almost as
plainly as by day. They were male aud fe-
male of large SIZE and the fact OF their ex-
] posing themselves so boldly proved their
courage. | was all ready, and after a hand
shake with my companions, walked over to
! the other party, which had been thrown
into state of great excitement Some had
| their guns, and some were bringing them out,
and | raised my voice and commanded at
| tention, ann said:
"Gentlemen, the lions are here Do not
| open n tusilade and scare them off, but wait
| until they come nearer"
"Would you wait until they are in the
| campW shouted the paymaster
mot exactly, but they must have a fair
show, you knowl Even our cowardly ma
tives here can fire off guns and raise great
row Why don't couple of you go for
| ward with your riiieSF
"'Ear him talk" growled an English
man.
D Yankee bluster" added a sec
ond.
"You and will advance upon the beasts
Alone" said to the French sprig of nobil-
! ity, who stood with gun in hand.
| "No MOI moi" he replied as he backed
Off
But thought you gave the lion far
| showi Is there man i'll this crowd who
dares go with mem
stepped out revolver in hand, and for
| half minute there was deep silence. Then
! two or three of them urged me not to be
| foohardy, while two or throe others growled
out that it was only Yankee bluff and buS-
ter. The lions reared again, making the
very earth tremble, and saw that neither
had changed position.
"Some of you have seen fit to slur the
nerve required 10y men in our vocation"
| said, when the roaring died away IL am
! going to drive those lions off the ridge |
should like company Who will come with
meg
Not man moved.
Very well, | will go alone This, as all
can see, is my only weapon"