The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-08-03

taxes nerve 10 DluN. l kept straight on
for the male, and he let me come within
thirty feet-twenty-ten- got the
full strength of his offensive breath before
he sprang aside with q snnrl and trotted
away. His mate followed his movements,
and assaved. Every man who has hunted
the lion knows that if you can upset him he
becoms cowardly. To upset him you have
got to work on his other nature. He is as
easily mystified and just as superstitious as
an old woman. The i1ea of my daring to
come straight at them, alone and appar-
emily unarmed, was too much for their
equanlmity. Once they were on the run they
| became more frightened with every rod,
and this permitted me to carry out tho sec
ond part of the programme. | shouted
after them, calling them jackals and cow
ards, and chased the male along the ridge
Tor forty rods or more. | also emptied my
revolver at the pair, taking care not to aim
too carefully, and the result was that both
ran Off into the desert, with their tails drag
glng. l returned to camp to receive an
ovation, and Yankee stock went above par
at single bound. |, of course, tried to
make light of the adventure, but / was
really in cold sweat, and my knees did not
get over their weakness for hours
Next day we separated from the party
and pushed on up the stream for twenty
miles where we halted and made a perma-
nent camp. The left hand bank was here
numbered and broken, offering good cover for
hons, and our first night satisfied us that we
mad them in plenty around us. On the next
night our new idea in lion catching was put
to the test. AS it was in one sense failure,
and as 1T is no longer practiced, can give
u away without injury to any one. Ger
man chemist had compounded for Us an
opiate. AS we could not give it direct to
the lions, it was poured down the throat Of
calf never knew what the stuff was,
but we forced yearling calf to mbibe
about pint of it, and for the following ten
minutes he acted as if drunk. Thon he got
sleepy, and laid down and closed his eyes
while we were a switching him. We re-
moved him to a ravine about half Il mile
from camp, and soon after dark a pair of
lions came down and killed and ate him.
We were astir at early dawn, and we found
| Doth animals within quarter of mile of
the spot They were living fiat on the earth,
helpless as old drunkards, and we
had them Gagged for hours before they
threw off the stupor. We waited a week
to discover what effect the stuff would
have. Neither one recovered from the
dose, one dying on the sixth and the other
on the seventh day. They acted languid,
had no appetite, and it was plain that
they had been thoroughly knocked out by
the drug. We were thinking of trying
it again and using a less quantity, whom
the two jugs holding the stuff were broken
by accident, and that was the end of our
scheme. Others have tried it, but no ami
NAL caught that way lived to reach Amster-
dam.
On the ninth day. having discovered a
runway down which the lions came to
drink at the river, we prepared a trap by
digging a deep pit. This was the work of
natives, and their skill was something to
wonder at. When they had finished their
work, the keenest white man would have
kept the path without suspicion of danger.
A few branches and reeds held up a layer
of earth, and this earth was so patted down
that it seemed to have been trodden for
weeks. When all was ready the natives
broke branch off bush beside the path
i'll a peculiar way. This they told us would
| prevent hyenas or jackals from following
the path. Then rag was hung on limb
over the path to keep hoofed beasts from
walking INTO our pit, and all was ready.
When night came We beard lions all around
us, and one came so close to camp as to
alarm us. but if they went to the river they
did not follow the path we had meddled
with. The next day was very close, and we
were sanguine of what the night would
bring forth.
| was i'll hopes we might capture the big
male lion which had disturbed camp the
night previous. He was a monster, had a
very heavy name and as we could see by
the spoor left behind, his right fore foot had
been hurt at some time. When night came
two lions began investigating our environ
ment, but neither was full grown. Up to
IL O'Clock the big fellow had not appeared
| and the natives argued from this that lie
was living beside some game he had killed
and would be certain TO go after water be-
fore visiting us. Such was probably the
case 1t was little after midnight when we
heard a sound between a scream and a
roar, and the natives began to shout and
explain that the noise was uttered by the
lion as he felt the earth giving way under
him.
Daylight had hardly come wher scouts
went out to the pit to investigate. They
speedily returned with the news that we
had trapped one of the biggest lions in
Africa. We had to take ropes and a cage
over, ard when | reached the pit the lion
was sitting on end and looking up at tho
crowd as if greatly puzzled. He had made
a great fuss and tired himself out, the pit
being so deep and narrow that he had no
chance to use his powerful muscle in leap
Having placed the cage, we ran one end
of the ropes through the bars aud made
slip-nooses at the other. For a full hour tho
old fellow fought the noosos off whenever
they touched him, but by and by we got
orc over his head and another under hind
leg, and up be came in heap, choking,
biting, striking, and gasping. We hauled
him into the cage and released the ropes,
and when he got his wind he was so mad
and Disguised that he slumped down on the
floor and shut his eyes and cried. When
we had time to look him over, we found one
of his forefeet crippled. He must have cut
it open on sharp rock long time before.
for it was fully healed up, though it both
cred him to walk. He was the identical
chap who had almost leaped into our camp,
and his weight, as recorded at Amsterdam,
was fourteen pounds heavier than any lion
Ind shown for three years. In the course
of the month we got two others. both full
grown, and all were sent off from the coast
i'll good condition.