Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1888-02-16
A TALE OF THREE LIONS.
BY Il. RIDER HAGGARp.
CHAPTER II

K
| different scene stretched away before us clad
/ in the silver robe of the moonlight. We were
/ camped-Harry and /, two Kafirs, Scotch
/ cart and SIX oxen-on the swelling side of q
/ great wave Of bush clad land. just where
| we made our camp, however, tho bush was
very sparse and only grew about in clumps.
while here and there were single Eat topped
mimosa trees To our right little stream,
which had cut deep channel for itself in the
bosom of the slope, flowed musically on be-
| tween banks green with maidenhair, wild
asparagus and many beautiful grasses The
bed rock here was red granite, and in the
| course OF centuries of patient washing the
water had followed out some Of the huge
slabs in its path INTO great troughs and cups,
and these we used for bathing places No
Roman lady, with her baths of porphyry or
alabaster, could have had a more delicious
| spot to lave herself than we had within fifty
| yards of our skerm or rough inclosure Of
mimosa thorn that we had dragged together
round our cart to protect us from the attacks
| of lions. There were several of these about,
as I knew from their spoor, though we had
neither heard nor seen them.
| at was a little nook where the eddy of the
| stream had washed away a mass of soil, and
on the edge of it there grew a most beautiful
| old mimosa thorn. Beneath the thorn was o
| large smooth slab of granite fringed all
| round with maidenhair and other ferns, that
sloped gently down to pool of the clearest
| sparkling water, which lay in a bowl of
granite about ten feet wide by five feet deep
in the center. Here to this slab we went
every morning to bathe and that delightful
bath is among the most pleasant of my hunt
ing "reminiscences, as it is also for reasons
that will presently appear among the most
painful.
ut was q lovely night and Harry and ]
sat there to tho windward OF the fire, at
which the two Katirs were busily employed
in cooking some impala steaks off buck
which Harry, to his great joy, had shot that
| morning, and were as perfectly contented
with ourselves and the world at large as two
people could possibly be. The night was beau
tiful; it would require somebody with mora
words on the tip of their tongue than have
to properly describe the chastened majesty Of
those moonlit wilds. Away forever and for
ever, away to the mysterious north rolled the
great bush ocean over which the silence
brooded. There beneath US, a mile or more
to the right, ran the wide Ohphant and
mirror like flashed back the moon, whose
silver spears were shivered on its breast and
then tossed in twisted lines of hight far
and wide about the mountains and the plain
Down upon the river banks grew great TIM
Der trees that, through the stiffness, pointed
solemnly to heaven, and the beauty of the
night lay upon them like cloud Every.
where was silence-silence in the starred
depths, silence on the fair bosom of the sleep
ing earth. Now, if ever, great thoughts
m yht rise in mans mind, and for a space
he might loose his littleness in the sense that
he partook of the pure immensely about him.
Almost might he seem to sec the spirit of the
heavens, girdled round with stars, passing
down in the dead quiet to look, now that the
night had covered up her sins, upon the sleep
ing face of his lost bride, the earth. Almost
might he hear the echoes of angelic voices, as
the spirits poised on bent and rushing pinions
swept onward from universe to universe;
and distinguish the white fingers of the wind
playing in the tresses of the trees
"Hark! what was that!'
"From far away down by the river there
comes mighty rolling sound, then another
and another. 1t is the lion seeking his meat
81 saw Harry shiver and turn little pale
He was plucky boy enough, but the roar of
lion for the first time in the solemn bush
veldt at night is apt to shake the nerves of
any lad.
"'Lions, my boy said; they are hunt
ing down by the river there; but don't
think that you need make yourself uneasy.
We have been here three nights now and if
they were going to pay us visit l should
think that they would have done so before
this. However, we will make up the fire..
"'Here, Pharaoh, do you and Jim-Jim get
some more wood before we go to sleep, else
the cats will be purring round before morn
ing
Pharaoh, great brawny Swat, who
had been working for me at Pilgrims Rest
laughed, rose and stretched himself, and
then calling to Jim-Jim to bring the ak
and REIN, started Off in the moonlight
toward a clump of sugar bush, where we cut
our fuel from some dead trees. He was a
fine fellow in his way, was Pharaoh, and l
think that he had been named Pharaoh be-
cause he had an Egyptian cast of counter
ance and royal sort of swagger about him.
But his way was a somewhat peculiar way,
on account of the uncertainty of his temper,
and very few people could get on with him;
also, if he could get it, he would drink like
a fish, and when he drank he became shock
ingly bloodthirsty. These were his bad
points; his good ones were that like most
people of the Zulu blood, he became exceed
ingly attached to one if he took to you at all;
he was hard working and intelligent man,
and about as dare devil and plucky fellow
at pinch as / have ever had to do with.
He was about five and thirty years of age or
so, but not 'keshla' or ringed man. be-
lieve that he got into trouble in some way in
Swaziland, and the authorities Of his tribe
would not allow him TO assume the ring, and
that is why he came to work at the gold
fields. The other man, or rather lad, Jini-Jinl,
was q Mapoch Kafir, or Knobnose, and even
in the light of subsequent events l fear that
/ cannot speak very well of him. He was an
idle and careless young rascal, and only that
very morning had to tell Pharaoh TO give
him beating for letting the oxen stray,
which he did with the greatest gusto, al
though he was, by the way, very fond of
Jini-Jim. Indeed, / saw him consoling JIM
Jim afterwards with pinch of snuff from
his own ear box whilst he explained TO him
that the next time it came in the way of duty
to fog him he meant to thrash him with the
other hand, so as to cross the old cuts and
make "a pretty pattern on his back
''Well off they went though Jim-Jim did
not at AZ like leaving the camp at that hour,
even when the moonlight was so bright, and
in due course returned safely enough with
great bundle of wood laughed at Jim-Jim
he said yes, he had; he had seen two large,
yellow eyes staring at him from behind
bush and heard something snore.
"As, however, on further investigation, the
yellow eyes and the snore appeared to have
existed only in Jim-Jim's lively imagination,
was not greatly disturbed by this alarming
report, but, having seen to the making up of
the fire, got into the skerm and went quietly
to sleep with Harry by my side.
s'Some hours afterwards l woke up with
start / don't know what woke me- The
moon had gone down, or at least was almost
hidden behind the soft horizon of bush, only
her red rim being visible. Also wind had
sprung up and was driving long hurrying
lines of cloud across the starry sky, and alto
gether a great change had come over the
mood of the night. BY the look of the sky
judged we must be about two hours from
daybreak.
''The oxen, which were as usual tied to the