Democratic messenger., 1888-03-31

We were after ropes to lasso him when lie
drew hack, wheeled around, and charged
( forward Tho first thing he came to was tire
cage containing tho serpents. It had q cont,
partment for each. He struck it on end,
gave Il toss In tho air, and az Il came down
the three big snakes, kissing like geese, gli,lcd
In different direcf IONS. Ono ran under the
I cages containing the panthers, q second out
on the bowsprit, and tho third darte,l into
! the forccastle. Tho natives called 10 us TO look
I ont, ns the borelc would attack the other
I cages. and while some Of the men sprang
down the companionway into tho cabin, the
Z others ran up the mainmnst shrouds. was
one Of the latter. there being four OF us, and
when about half way TO tho crosStrees We
pn,iscl TO watch tho further actions Of the
! rhinoccros. The lions and panthers were
raising an awful racket, and the confusion
was ,lcafening Tho big beast cleared his
horn of a portion Of the cage hanging to IL,
/ and then struck that containing the pan
TIERS The beasts were liberated In mo-
n,cnt. and as they ran about tho deck the
I lions roarci and raved until we had TO stop
our ears One Of the panthcrs ran aft and
leapssl into the yawl boat at the davits and
I crouchcd under the thwart, and the other
! hill un.lcr the bedding We had brought up To
mir and spread ut the heel OF the bowsprit.
Tho borclc was now thoroughly chragcl,
: and, without deigning glance at the pan
/ theirs, he smashed into the pen Of lions and
made kindlings Of II. The largest Of the
{ three lions sprang ON the borelc's back as he
cainc out OF tho pen, and perhaps his sharp
claws inflicted some damage. Hc had no
sooner lcapcd TO tho deck than the big beast
chased him aft 10 the cabin, but had TO stop
there. Ono Of the other lions disappeared
down the forccastlc, while the third crouchcd
down by the water butt and kept up fear
ful growing. No ships crew ever found
themselves in n stranger situation. IL was
pretty hard to say what should be done, and
it was full hour before we got any word
from the captain. During this time the
borclc drove the other lion aft, smashed the
water butt, drove the panther out from un-
der the bcslding into tho forccastlc with tho
third lion, and then destroyed our bedding
and everything else which would yield 10 his
terrible horns. Just before the captain
called out to us one Of our men pulled him
self across to tho foremost by the triangle
stay, slipped down the leo shrouds, and,
waiting until the borcle was headed aft, he
dropI'ed to tho deck and slid the cover over
the forecastle companion. That act Inn
7 lTispucu u uuu, " uIih Oic VI tilc SGT
rents, and was display Of Judgment and
aervo which the captain well rewarded.
The men shut up in the cabin finally hailed
us to know the situation. The other two
lions were crouchc,l down at the wheel, and
the panther in the boat had no idea Of lcav-
Ing IT, The three beasts kept up low
growing and snarlinS, and would have
picked fight but for the presence II n COM
LA Stt.i .i..h
must bc taken care Of first. By orl, r of the
captain another man crussc,l tO the furcnlast,
and then the two descended the shrou,ls and
shouted and grsturcl defiance at the borclc
until he was brought to the bows. Then
three men, armed with guns and rcvolvcrs.
Slipped out Of the cabin nad into the slirouds
OF the mninnnst, and IL began to looi; rs il
we Ind the advantage. While We were try
in: to draw the borcle Mt again. that they
might make u target of him. one OF the lions
lcapci into the yawl, while the other ran
for the bows Of the brig. Tho one had
scarcely entered the yawl when the panther
tackled him, and for u minute the two
bonn,l,Sl over the thwGrts and tumbled
about In the iicrcest confusion, The yawl
rockcd about as IL II would upset, AMI the
screams AMI roars Of the beasts were some
thing awful. Glancing for an instant from
the comhatants to the water below. | saw
the sharks gathering astcrn OF W. almost
rs thick as they could pack. Could one Of
us reach the tackle and lower away, we
would ir rid Of two more Of our enemies
The man below me on the shrou,ls moved
down little, thinking TO carry out the idea,
hut just then thu fighting beasts rcarcpl up
over the thwart amidships, scz.Sl each other
with fresh grip, and ns they tuggcd and
tusslcl, the rocking Of the bnat dumped them
cut, aud the sharks snapped them UP la u
second.
The fight drew the attention Of the rhi-
n1crros. On his way aft he camc across the
lion, who was skulking under the bnlwarks,
and drove lin back 10 his former position at
the wheel As l told you before. the biz
beast could not crowd IN between the cabin
roof AMI the bu,warks, hut nuw. seeming to
bc madlcr than ever, lie saw u new route lie.
fore him. The roof of tho cabin was aiout
two feet aloyc the deck, with u heavy glass
Skylight in the center After a few terrific
shorts the borelc started To walk over tho
cabin roof lie got his full weight upon il,
wien his fore feet went through with n
crash, aud lie rolled sideways into the narrow
passage and was stuck fast, feet In tho air,
and the ma,id,St rLinOcrrus on earth. While
he was struggling there the men be:nn firing
upon the lion. After bcing hit three times
hc bounded over the cabin AMI ran forward
out VI sight. think hc attempted to go
out on the bowsprit and was attacked by
the serpent. We heard something of n
struggle, followed by heavy splash in the
water, aud that was the last known OF
either. All of us now clambcrcd down to
attack tho rhinoccros. lie was helpless To
defend himself, and wc usel axes amd bullets
to rid him of life. Indeed, We chopped him
IN pic,tS in order 10 handle the body and get
IL overheard.
There were now n lion, a panther, nnd
serpent in the forccastlc, and we proposed to
let 'rm fight it out. II was long after dinner
before We cleared the deck, and We had not
yet washed uut the blood when brcczc
sprang up, aud We held our course. Had it
CONF an hour sooner We should have becn in
u bad ilx, aS nobody could have touched tho
sails. Such lsslding as could be spared from
III" cabin WAS passed up, and II was arranged
for us Ia sleep ON deck during the rrSt II the
voyage. Not sound had been heard from
tho forsSTStl, during the day, hut just l,e-
fore dark there was AN awful rumpus. We
could hear the hiss OF the serpent, tho
screams of the PANTHER, nnd the growls of
ter 81 an hour. Then II died away, and
nothing further disturbed US during tho
night. After breakfast next morning We
armed ourselves with cutlasScs and caIstan
liars, and S;ood about the hatch while the
cover was slid hack. There was an awful
smell, but Nothing moved. After whilo
one of the men descended the ladder part
way, AMI II was presently discovered that all
our enemies We're dead. There had been
triangular flg..t between 'eIn, and il had con
tinucd until all were destroyed. The two
beasts werc bitten AMI scratched in the most
terrible manner, and the serpent had l,cen
bitten through and through dozen times.
IL took us whole day to get rid of the
stencil and clean up. and our captain would
not have taken another cage aboard the brig
for its weight IN gold-Ncw York Sun.
A Running Water, Ncb., debating society,
after thr,c hours' discussion Of tho question:
"RcSOlycd, That buzzar,ls are more bcncil.