The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1889-03-15

from picking the carcass clean. One of
the captives was the cheeky old fellow
who had entered our camp, and the
other two wer. fully as large. In the
course OF the forenoon we had them out
and in the cages, and two of them are in
the United Stata1 to-day in geological
gardens.
There are plehty of instances where
men have been s-ized by lions and lived
to relate the particulars, though no two
agree as to sensations. A week subse-
quent to our capture of the three lions
l had been out with some of the natives
to prepare bait in a rocky ravine. We
had built stout pen of rocks and logs
and placed q calf as bait. The sun
was nearly down as we started for camp,
and no one had the least suspicion of the
presence of danger until lion, which
had been crouching beside a bush,
sprang out and knocked me down. In
springing upon his prey the lion or the
tiger strikes as he seizes. This blow of
the paw, if 1t falls on the right spot,
disables the victim at once / was so
near this fellow that he simply reared up.
seized me by the shoulder and pulled me
down, and was fat on the earth before
l realized what had happened was on
my back, and he stood with both paws
on my middle, facing the natives and
growing savagely. The men ran off
about 300 feet and then halted, which
was doubtless the reason why was not
carried off at once. l can say without
conceit that l was fairly cool. 1t had
come so suddenly that had not had time
to get ratified. had been told by an
old Boer hunter, if ever found myself
in this fix, to appeal to the lions fears.
Had moved my arm to get my pistol,
the beast would have lowered his head |
and seized my throat. So long as l lay
quiet he would reason that l was dead, |
and give his attention to the natives. |
All of sudden l barked out like dog,
followed by a growl, and that beast |
jumped twenty feet in his surprise He |
came down between me and the natives, |
and | turned enough to see that his tail /
was down and that he was
| scared. l uttered further barks and /
growls, but without moving hand, and,
after making a circle clear around me,
the lion suddenly bolted and went off .
with a scare which would last him a
week. If you had picked up a stick
and discovered it to be a snake you
would do as the lion did. He supposed
he had pulled down a man. The man
turned into dog. 1t appealed to his
fears.
After the lion had gone 1 grew so
weak that had to be carried to camp.
He had inflicted pretty bad bite on my
shoulder, and it was a fortnight before 1
could hold my gun for an ofT-hand shot
/ had the presence OF a fourth captive
during this time to console me, how
ever. No animal went near the calf the
first or the second night, but on the
third we captured a fine half-gro
male. and got him Gagged without trouble.
Curiously enough, he had offered the
calf no violence, being overcome by the
situation, and when we found him the
two seemed on the best of terms.
About four months later, on the
Orange River, had close call for my
life, with no one at hand to aid me by
distracting the attention of the lion l
had only one white man with me, and he :
was i'll of fever. We had dug pit on :
path frequented by lions coming down +,
to drink, but we're much annoyed by !
other animals falling into it. On the
first night we caught two hyenss; on {
the second a panther; on the third !
wild hog. These would have been prizes {
had we not been after lions and lions {
alone On the fourth night stationed
a couple of natives in a tree near the '
path to brighten off all game h''4 l'"n8
They were hunters
lof lion from -
When going down to "a
r-aporo1l, - -
what game is abroad. On rough path I
his tread IS as heavy as mans, and no
one who has hunted him need be afraid
of making a mistake. On this night, [
after the natives had driven several use. f
less animals away a large lion and '
lioness came down the path. When s
first discovered the lion was ahead, but t
he got the scent of the men in the tree a
and stopped short to growl and sniff, /
while the lioness, who was, perhaps, /
very thirsty, advanced slowly and went i
into the pit /
The pit was two miles from our camp, /
and we heard nothing of the row which {
took place when the lion discovered the t
trick played on his mate He tore around I
for a spell like mad, and then lay down !
at the foot of the tree and besieged the
men. As soon as it was daylight, left
camp on horseback to ride over and see
what luck. I rode straight for the t
place, and, when within forty rods, a
called to the men. They answered at i
once, and though | could not make out n
what they said, knew that they were L
excited over something. | was riding Il
around clump of trees on to an open q
space, when my horse suddenly started o
Next instant was on the ground and D
lion standing over me, and l could hear 3
the horse tearing away through the scrub =
like mad. The lion had pulld me down, Il
nearly tearing the back out of my coat, u
vest, and shirt, but not drawing blood .
with his claws. L
As in the previous case, was not =
because it had occurred so =
suddenly that had not time to loose =
my nerve. was on my left side, bare y
headed, and the lion stood for moment ,
with his right paw on my shoulder, = =
looking after the horse. The natives =
saw the fleeing horse, knew very well =
what had happened to me, and at once u
descended the tree and made for camp y
l did not blame them any, aud perhaps =,
that very action saved my life. had u
time to collect my thoughts in that y
single minute, and as I had routed one ::
lion by barking like dog, decided to .
follow the same plan in this case But 2
as | said at the beginning, lions are as u
unlike as man. At my first bark this .
fellow grUwled sayagely and gave me =
terrible bite in the hip Had l cried "
out at that or made any struggle he II
would have finished me at once re- III
pressed my feelings and played dead. 1 "
had revolver strapped to my back, but "a "a
it would not do to reach for it. After q
biting me the lion watched and "
waited for signs of life, and u u
when he could detect none, he seized III
my right shoulder in his teeth, gave me
a shake and twist, and next moment y
was being carried off on his back. His :"
teeth did not touch my flesh, and as l y
lay almost across him on my side my ~
hand struck the butt of the revolver. I y
bad it out of the holster IN second, and 70
then felt had show. Whether the !"
beast felt any movement or not, he "