The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1888-11-10

state o: great excitement. Some had
their guns, and some were ringing them
ont. and | raised my voice and com
mandeI attention. and said:
..Gentlemcn, The lions are here! DO
not open a fusllade and scare them OIL,
but wait until they come nearer"
Would YOU wait until they are In the
campi" shouted the paymaSter.
Not exactly, but they must have
fair show, you know Even our COW.
ardly natives here can fire of guns and
raise great row. Why don't couple
of YOU 90 forward with your rifles"
"'Ear him talk" growled an English.
man.
"You and l will advance upon the
beasts Alone said 20 the French sprig
of nobility, who stood with gun In
hand
no. no! no "he replied as he backed
off.
But l thought you gave the lion a
fair show! Is there man in this crowd
who dareS 90 with me!'
| stepped out, revolver in hand, and
for half minute there was deep silence.
Then two or three of them urged me moi
to be foolhardy, while two or three 9th
ers growled out that it was only Yankee
bluff and buster. The lions roared
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. / shonld like company. Who
will come with me-"
Not nun moved.
"Nery well. will go alone. This, as
all can see, is my only weapon"
struck out at a moderate pace, face
TO the lions and the revolver in hand.
| was going to bluff the beasts or lose
nv life. | believed they could be
bluffed. They stood about foul feet
apart, heads elevated and tails upland
had not advanced forty feet when they
both uttered deep growl. Before had
gone hundred feet the men were beg
gng me to return. Had faltered or
halted or looked back my power would
have vanished in second. l had my
eyes on the lions, and | went steadily
forward. They growled again and
switched their tails. When / had adj
vanced one third of the distance the fe-
male crouched as if for run at me,
while the male was evidently uneasy.
At half the distance the male advanced
a step or two, with a low roar, and the
female changed her place to the other
side Of HIM. Behind me every man held
his breath, believing was going to GER
tain death. | am not going to deny
that was in a tremble, and that would
have given ten years of my life to be out
of the scrape, but | had been insulted
and slurred as Yankee and was either
to die like Yankee or come off with
flying colors.
When l had come within fifty feet of
the lions fully expected they would
rush upon me. Both were excited and
angry, and both ready. Here was where
nerve came into play. 1t was game of
! bluff, but it takes nerve to bluff. | kept
straight on for the male, and he let me
come within thirty eet-twenty-ten-
indeed, got the full strength of his Of
fensive breath before he sprang aside
with snarl and trotted away. His
mate followed his movements, and was
saved Every man who has hunted the
lion knows that if you can upset him he
becomes cowardly. To upset him you
have got to work on his other nature. He
is as easily mystifed and Just as super
stitious as an old woman. The idea oil
nv daring to come straight at them
alone and apparently unarmed, was toe
much for their equanimity. Once they
were on the run they became more
frightened with every rod, and this per
mitred me to carry out the second part o
the programme. shouted after them
calling them iackals and towards, anC
chased the male along the ridge for fort,
rods or more. | also emptied my re
volver at the pair, taking care not to ain
too carefully, and the result was tina
both ran Gil into the desert, with theil
tails dragging. l returned to camp T.
receive an ovation, and Yankee stool
went above par at single bound. !, o
course, tried to make light of the ad
venture, but | was really in cold sweat
, and nv knees dill not get over thei
weakness for hours.
Next day we separated from the part
and pushed on up the stream for twent
miles, where we halted and made per
manent camp. The left-hand bank wa
, here timbered and broken, offering GOO
cover for lions, and our first night salts
fed Us that we had them in plent
( around us. On the next night our ne,
t idea in lion catching was put to the test
As it was in one sense failure, and as
| is no longer practised, can give it ava
: without injury to any one. A Germa
t chemist had compounded for US a
opiate. AS we could not give it direC
I to the lion, it was poured down tn
, throat of a calf. / never knew what tn