Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1888-02-24
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A TALE OF THREE LIONS
BY II. RIDER HAooARD.


homIed outright, while the poor oxen, who
were terrified almost OFT OF their hides, shiv-
cred and lowed piteOusly.
The nigbt was almost entirely dark now,
for the moon had quite set and the clouds
had covered up the stars, 50 that the only
light that We had came from the fire. which
by this time was burning up brightly again
But. a. YOU know, freight is absolutely use
less 70 shoot b., il is SO uncertain, and besides
it r.sne;rsats but a very little way into the
darkness. ali hough if one is in the dark out
side one car zee II from so far away.
"PreseItl the oxen, after standing still
for moment, suddenly winled the lion and
did what ] feared they would-besan to
's!1reIz,' that is, to try and break loose from
the trektov TO which they were tied, and
rush off Ina1ily into the wilderness. Lions
know of this habit on the part Of oxen, which
are, do believe, the most foolish animals un-
der the sun, sheep being very Solomon
compared 10 them, and IT is by no means I'M
common for a lion to get in such a position
that herd or span Of oxen may wind him,
SHREK, break their reins AMI rush off Into the
bush. OF course, once they are there they
are helpless in tine dark: and then the lion
chooses the one that he loves best and eats
him at his leisure.
"WelI, round and round went our six poor
oxen, nearly traiapling us to death in their
mad rush: indeed, had we not hastily til IL
bled ont of the way should have BEEN
trampled to death OF at the least seriously
injured. As it was, Harry was run over,
and poor Jim-Jim being caught by the trek
tow somewhere beneath the arm, was hurled
right across the slzerin, landing by my side
only some PAGES Off.
''Snap went the disseiboosn of the cart be
meath the transverse strain put upon il. Had
it not broken the cart would have overset; es
it was, In another minute, oxen, cart, trek
tow, reiins, broken disselboom, and every
thing were soon tied in one vast heaving.
plunging, believing and seemingly inextrica-
bic knot
For a moment or two this state of affairs
took my attention off from the lion that had
caused it, but while | was wondering what
on earth was to be done next, and what we
should do if the cattle broke loose into the
bush and were lost, for cattle frightened in
this manner Will go right away like mad
things, it was suddenly recalled in very
painful fashion
For at that moment | perceived by the
light of the fire kind of CLEAN Of yellow
travelling through the air toward us.
"'The lion! the lionr holloaed Pharaoh,
and as he did so he, or she, for it was great,
gaunt loncss, half wild. no doubt, with
hunger, lit iIht in the middle of the skerm,
and stood there in the smoky gloom and
dashed her tail and roarod. | seized my rifle
ami fired it at her, but what between the con-
fusion and my agitation and the uncertain
light, missed her and nearly shot Pharaoh
The flash of the rifle. however threw the
whole scene into strong relief, and "A wild one
it was, can tell you-with the seething mass
of oxen twisted all around the cart in such a
fashion that their heads looked as though
they were growing ont of their rumls and
their horns seemed To protrude from their
backs; the smoking fire, with just blaze in
the heart of the smoke; Jim-Jim in the fore
grouu'i, where the oxen had thrown him in
their Wild rush, stretched out there in terror;
and then, II center to the picture the
great, gaunt lioness glaring round with
hungry, yellow eyes. roaring and whining as
she made up her mind what to do.
1T did not take her long, however-just
as long as it takes IA flash to die into dark
ness-for before could fire again or do any
thing, with most fiendish snort she sprang
upon poor ,Iim-Jim.
II heard the unfortunate lad shrek and
then almost instantly | saw his legs thrown
into the air. The lioness had seized him by
the neck, and with a Sudden jerk thrown his
body over her back SO that his legs hung
down at the further side.
Then, without the slightest hesitation,
and apparently without any difficulty, she
cleared the skerIn fence at q single bound,
and, bearing poor Jim-Jim with her, vanished
into the darkness beyond in the direction of
the bathing place that | have already de
scrihed. We jumped up, perfectly mad with
horror and fear, and rushed after her, firing
shots mt haphazard on the chance that she
would he frightened by ten into dropping
her prey, but nothing could we see and moth
ing could we hear The lioness had vanished
into the darkness, taking Jim-Jim with her,
| and to attempt to follow her till daylight was
madness. We should only expose ourselves
| to the risk of u like fate
80 with scared and heavy hearts we crept
back to the skerm and sat down to wait for
| daylight, which n,sv could not be much more
| than an hour of It was absolutely useless
| to try even to discntnngle the oxen till then,
So all that was lei. Tor us to do was to sit and
wonder how it came to pass that one should
be ta>el and the other left, and TO hope
against hope that our poor servant might
have beeI mercifully delivered from the lions
| Jaws. At lougth the FAINT light cane steal
! ing like II host up the long slope of bush
| and gl3nted ON the tangled oxen's horns,
| and VITA frightened face, we got up and
set Ia thn taS,; OF diScntau,.lia- the oxen till
such time as th'rr hodld be light enough to
| enable us to folluT the trail of the lioneSs
| which had gone oil with Jim-Iim. And here
| fresh trouble awaited us, for when at last
! with infinite difficulty. we bad got the great
| helpless bruteS loose 1t wlS o1ly to find that
one of them was very sich There was nc
mistake about the way he stood with his les
slightly apart and his head hanging down.
| He had got the redwater; | WAS sure of it.
| OF all the difficulties connected with life and
travelling IN South Africa those connected
with oxen are perhaps the worst The OK is
the most exasperating animal in the world, a
negro excepted He has absolutely no con
stitution. and never neglects an opportunity
of falling sick of some mysterious disease.
He will get thin upon the slightest provoca-
ton. and from mere righteousness die of
poverty whereas il is his chief delight to
turn round and refuse to pull whenever he
finds himself well in the center of a river. or
the wagon wheel nicely EAST in a mud hole
Drive him few miles over rough roads and
You will find that he is footsore; turn him
loose to feed and you will discover that he
mas run away, or II lie mas not run away he
has of malice aforcthought eaten tulip and
poisoned himself There is always some
thing wrong with him. The OK is brute
II was of piece with his accustomed be-
havior for the one in question TO break out
on purpose, probahly-with relwater just
when lion had walked Off with his herder
1t was exactly what should have expected,
and | was therefore neither disappointed nor
surprised.
"Well, it was no use CRYING, as | should
almost have liked to do, because if this OK
had redwatcr IT was probable that the rest
of them had it too, although they had been
sold 10 me as 'saltc,i,' that is, proof against
such diseases as rsiwater and lung sick
One gets hardened to this sort of thing in
South Africa il course of time. for / sup
pose in no other country in the world is the
waste OF animal life 81 great.
''Se, taking my rifle and telling Harry to
follow me for we had to leave Pharaoh to
look after the oxen-Pharaoh's lean kline
called them, | started to see if anything
could Ire found of or appertaining to the I'M
fortunate Jim-Jim. The ground round our
little camp was hard and rocky, and we
could not hit Off any spoor of the lioness
though inst outside the ssprIn we saw drnp