Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1890-01-30

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FOR on MS BACK WAS A GREAT, DARK
FORM.
peculiar painful SCUM, me scream Of a
horse, quite close to the fire, which was
still burning brightly Next second
there came a noise Of galloping hoofs,
and before | could even rise my poor
horse appeared in the ring Of freight
AS in flash Of lightning l saw his star
ing eyes and wide-stretched nostrils, and
the broken rein with which he had been
knee-haltered flying in the air. Also I
saw something else, for on bis back was
great dark form with glowing eyes,
and from the form came a growing
sound. II was a lion
The horse dashed on. He galloped
right through the fire. for which he had
run in his error-fortunately, however,
without treading on us-and vanished
into the night We heard his hoofs for
hundred yards Or more; then there was
silence, broken now and again by dis
tant growls. As may be imagained, we
did not sleep any more that night, but
waited anxiously till, two hours later,
the dawn broke.
As soon as there was sufficient light
we rose, and, leaving Tota still asleep,
crept cautiously in the direction in
which the horse had vanished. When
we had gone fifty yards or so we made
out the remains lying on the veldt, and
caught sight of two great cat-like forms
sinking away in the gray light.
To 90 any further was useless; we
knew all about il now, and we turned TO
look for the other horse But our cup of
misfortune was not yet full. 1t was no
where to be found. Soon we came upon its
spoor, and then we saw what had hap
pened Terrified by the sight and smell
of the lions, il had with desperate eff
fort also burst the rein with which it bad
been knee-haltered and galloped far
away. For now we were left alone in
these vast solitudes without a horse to
carry us, and with a child who was not
old enough to walk more than little
way al time.
Well, it was no use giving in, so, with
a few words, we went back to our camp
| whore I fosnd Tota crying because she
had woke to find herself alone, and ate
a little food. Then we prepared to start
First, we divided such articles as we
must take with US into two equal parts,
rejecting every thing that we could pos
sibly do without. Then, by an after
thought, we filled our water-bottles,
though at the time | was rather against
doing so because OF the extra weight.
But Indaba-zimbi overruled me in the
matter, fortunately for all three of us.
l settled to look after Tots for the first
march, and gave the elephant gun to
Indaba-zimbi. At length all was ready
and we set out on foot. BY the help of
occasional lifts over rough places, Tota
managed to walk up the slope on the
hillside where | had shot the Petite
buck At length we reached it, and,
looking at the country beyond, gave
an exclamation of dismay. To say
that it was desert would be saying too
much; it was more like the Barroo In
the Cape-a vast sandy waste, studded
neio a'lp olelo Mn low SHRUBS anu
so'V'eiV' iooH9' i'uy ~ was q eieaU OK OK
Pa'.5o = 10'oiS' n .''',' 'sl-i,s = ~
away by line of purple Hills, in the
center Of which a great solitary peak
cared high into the sir.
Ih1~ s..i'' =
cross tuis III We E4Ec siN day
As ~ y - -iI'e'' l'''.- -, -. ~
s"efeu' uu1 ''li 9ou l''"1 s'ioio
anu ~ Po4lt'.9 w NV P7%N ~
whlte man liNss. luFh "nith way you
IKE Dao II Sea 1'Fh you W. p,., 4sii
l rehec1eu ior ilo'ieht 'ur oaso
VAS nuin% y az must ny '''ies'.
II matsefed ilttie @hiGA Wy w MehS'
we were alone' almost without iooa,
Win no means on iran port ana ciiilu
to carry I'M Weil peflsh III we sandy
waste as on the rolling yeldb or among
the trees of the hlil-slde, providence
alone coVld save ~ ana WE must trust %
providence.
Come On ! 5ald' iiItlhg lota on 70
my BAGS ior she WAS aireaay Urea AZ
roads lead 70 resi-.
now am II aesCrlDe lhe .uIsery ~ me
next four days How am 70 tel now
We stumbled on through that awful des-
ert almost Withoutfcod' and quite With
out water, for thcre were no streams.
and we saw no springs? We soon found
! how the case Was. and saved almost all
the water in our bottles for the child.
To look back on il IL like nightmare.
! can scarcely bear to dwell on It. Day
after day by turns carrying the child
through the heavy sand; night after
night lying down IN the scrub chewing
tho leaves and licking such dew as there
was from tue scanty grass! NoJa spring.
not pool, not head of camel II was
the third night we were nearly mad
with thirst Iota was ~ comatose
condition. indaba-zimoi still mad q lit
ire water in his bottle-perhaps wine
glassfuL We moistened her lips and
our blacRened tongues with IL Ihen
we gave the rest to the child. 1t revived
her. She awoke from her swoon To sink
into sleep.
See, the dawn was breaking. The
hills were not more than eight miles or