The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1891-08-14

Il cannot tell you / answered. "The
people say they are worried by the lions.
ana l have told them you and l viii stay
with them tonight and sample a few"
Some escaped iailbird, l suppose
said Curley. THE eountry's full Of
them"
Yes" | answered, the country is
full of them, but l am sure this man is
no criminal. His manner and his APP
pearance, barring his clothes, are thos
Of a gentleman, and his wife seems more
than ordinarily refined"
Well said Curley, eff they viii trot
ont the lions for us we don't care what
they are"
With that we started toward the rock.
The California lion may have a legiti-
mate name, but this is the only one /
have ever heard applied to him. He be-
longs to the panther and wildcat fam
lilies, being. | believe, a cross between
the two.
The animals are muchlarger than wild
cats, and when hungry are very f%erocious.
One is sufficiently powerful to pull down
q deer, and two will make short work Of
q buffalo. Their home is in the noun
tains, but they come TO the plains and
down into the canyons in search OF food.
We spent the afternoon talking with
u new acquaintance, who seemed well
informed on many subjects. Curley,
who was not q bad Mexican scholar, car
ried on a brief conversation with the
young wife in her mother tongue. No
clew, however, did he obtain as to her
former history.
They gave US coffee, bread and fried
bacon for supper, and our host surprised
and delighted US by producing from his
trunk some cigars. Not a lamp nor a
candle OF any description did they have.
When darkness came on they went to
bed or on watch, as the case might be.
We told them all 70 retire whenever
they felt disposed, and they wanted not
a second bidding. We saw that u
rifles were in good order, and that our
ammunition was handy, then we per
mitted the fire to die out.
Not long did we wait; We had not been
on guard more than half an hour, when
Curley whispered to me, did you see
that thing sneaking up here7'
had already seen it; but it was only
a coyote, so / said, at is nothing but a
coyote; we must not shoot, it will fright
en- the lions"
81 believe you are right" said Curley.
But how about this senator that is APP
proaching?"
Sure enough, here came a large lion
walking proudly along, scarcely thirty
yards from US.
"Do not fire. said Curley. Wait
Until we can get more of them"
a few minutes later four large lions
were in cur immediate front. The man
had certainly told the truth thus far,
whatever his intention as to farming
might be.
@You take the one on the left, and I'll
take the one on the right" said Curley.
care you ready?'
Ready" I replied.
Fire.
The report of our rifles and the screams
Of the startled sleepers were almost 81
-maltaneous; the three were sleeping
soundly and the shots naturally startled
them. | threw another cartridge into
my rifle and fired at al escaping lion,
bnt l doubt if l injured him, We re-
built the fire and dragged two fine speci-
mems Of the brutes where its light would
allow us to inspect them. I had shot one
through the heart and Curley had sent a
bullet through the brain of the other.
II think we had better leave them
outside" said Curley; 'the others will
scent the blood and come back"
Whether they scented the blood or
not 1 am not prepared to say, but back
they certainly came. We waited until
a good opportunity offered, and then, at
q given signal, fred again. Two more
large lions fell, and Curley succeeded in
loading and shooting one that was en-
deayoring to escape. This made five
that we had killed. After watching
another hour without any result, we
made up the fire and slept until sunrise.
The little family were oyerjoyed at be-
holding u nights work, and succeeded
in convincing us of their sincere graft
tude,
After breakfast Curley skinned the five
animals and CALAMITY presented the pelts
to the young wife. AS we babe goodby
to the rock family he said, ..If you rub a
little s%trychnine over these carcases and
stake them at some little distance from
your ranch you win not be troubled
much longer by the lions"
Then, with q cordial farewell, we pro-
ceeded down the river to oYertake the
commando. L. in brakes Magazine.
Reading Selections from the Paper.