San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-07-03

was caked, had the leather thongs cut which
tied the cubs paws together, and sent for
some goats milk, which it eagerly Tapped.
Presently saw Muropo very busily engaged
eating and l called him up to hear his adj
ventures. And this is the tale he told u.s..
master, you know you told me yesterday
evening that you would give any one five
cows who could bring you a lion cub. Well,
thought of that all night. l said to myself,
If can get one of the small cubs we saw
the other day, when the white man shot ths
lion, that will bring me half the purchase
money of Kangombe, and shall soon be able
to make up the other half gaI get married to
my sweetheart So th.s morning, at dawn,
started for that pen place on the border Of
the OnGave forest, where We saw the lions
yesterday. l soon found the footprints Of
the lioness going Into the forc.t H' cbming
out-those coming out we:' 80 l.csa.st, SOL
guessed she had gone cut ,oragi:S for her
cubs. Then l began to follow the spoor
which led into the bush, for l knew these
tracks woe &,;ely TO lead to the place where
she kept ..er cubs. l walked very slowly
aud very softly, for, you see, had only
my small spear with me, and no gun, and II
the lioness was in the wood wanted to see
her before she saw me- At last l heard q
whining noise, and, pushing my head through
the leaves and twigs, l saw in the hollow be-
tween the roots of a big tree three little cubs
about three months old. As quick as poo
sible had jumped over the root and picked
UP one of the cubs. 1t was not very fright
ened and didn't struggle much, being used to
be carried about by its mother. l held it
! tight under my left arm and crept out Of
Al II i,,gt A,,tSi do and
STOPPING to pick thorn out of my foot,
l heard low growl, and, looking up,
l saw the lloness walking slowly towards
me. My knees trembled, and l felt
dead man already, but l did not let go
of the cub. Facing the lioness, who had
stopped and was sitting ON her launches,
flashing her tail gently from side to side,
walked backward till was quite clear of the
bush and out on the open plain. Then the
| cub gave yelp, and the lioness suddenly got
| up and commenced trotting toward me. Mas
| ter, got frightened. Thought wouldrun.
| An Ovampo man can run faster than lion;
but had got this cub and spear to carry.
However, picked up big stone and threw
| it to the lioneSs. She stopped, turned around,
| and smelt it. Then put the cub on my shout
| ders and set off running toward the camp at
| the top of my speed. Soon heard roar be-
| hind me, and there was the lioness bounding
| along after me.
Il turned and hurled my spear at her. I
missed; but she stopped for minute to smell
| it, Then l ran on harder than ever Still she
| came after me faster and faster. l jumped
over sticks and pushed through thorns and
| never stopped. But the lioness never lost
sight of me. At last l was thinking l would
throw away the lion cub to save my life,
when suddenly fell through the grass into q
| deep pit. 1t was one of those deep pitfalls
that we dig for catching elephants and rhi-
noceroses. There was big, sharp iron stake
at the bottom, standing upright. Fortu-
nately l fell down the side and missed the
stake, which is put there for the elephant to
fall on and be pierced by. As caught at the
stems of the grass | broke the force of the
fall and came t., the bottom very little hurt.
II put down the lion cub and began to con-
| slider what to do if the lioness jumped on me,
for she was already standing close to the
edge of the pit, looking down on me and
growing had thrown away my spear, SO
had nothing to fight with. Then l noticed
that iron stake, and it seemed just the thing
l wanted, so | set to work and dug at the
ground with my hands till l had loosened the
earth and was able to pull the stake up As
soon as | had got it free and out of the
ground l crouched down and held it in both
hands, pointing the sharp end toward the
lioness, who was gathering up her body for q
spring. For short, short time she kept still,
only looking at me with fierce eyes and snarl-
ing. Then tine cub began to yelp again, and
suddenly l saw the lioness springing into the
air and falling on me.
81 don't know what happened then for
some time afterward, for great blow struck
me and died. lost consciouSneSS.)
when | came to life again it was after
noon. The lioncss was lying close to me,
partly across my legs. She was quite dead,
with the iron stake right through her body.
The cub was standing beside her, whining
and licking the dry blood. | was covered
with blood all over, painted with it thickly
Just as we paint our bodies with red ocher
and mutton fat before we dance Most of it
came from the honesS, but some had flowed
from a wound on my shoulder, where she
had struck me with her claws. felt very
sick, master, very sick. When l tried to
stand up everything won't around and fell
to the ground again.
"But by and by, as the sun went down and
the evening breeze blew cool, felt stronger;
so picked up the lion cub and threw him up
the side of the pit as far as l could. He held
on to the grass stems and scrambled out. /
soon climbed out after him and caught him.
Then held him in my arms and walked on
toward the camp. 1t was not far, but it took
me long to get there. l was very often sick
and had to stop and rest; then the lion cub
was heavy and my shoulder hurt me. But
now have got here and have brought you
I Fr,, Ill