The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1891-11-06
IN A DEN WITH LIONS.
\ YOUNG BOY DEVOURED BY
THE SAVAGE BEASTS.
terrible ExPerIenee OF Those who Went
10 HIS Rsseue-One OF che Most
ProVfdentiaI Escapes Ever
on Record.

ing IN the edge OF al Verde. IeXaS
has returned from an inspecting tour
over his various outlying ranches and
tells as follows the story of one of
his experiences. says the St Louis
Globe-Democrat Not more than q
month ago I hired a good-looking
young fellow-a New Yorker. believe
who was out Of money and In dis
tress and put him on my little ranch
, In Crockett County. l became at
tached TO the boy. He was a good
one. l am sure, only down on his luck.
/ l lett him there getting along very
well and saw nothing more of him
Recently l went down to the ranch to
see how every thing was, and the first
thing l heard was that Donnelly, the
new man, had disappeared.
! He had gone out three days before,
the men said. to look up a pony that
had strayed. and nothing had been
seen or heard of him since. l was
sure something terrible had happened
70 him. and | determined to find out
what it was if it took all the rest OF
the year. l called one of the men
Mike O'Leary and we took guns and
plenty of ammunit on, besides hunting
knives and set out on our search.
/ We tramped about through the noun
tains all the first day without find ng
the slightest trace of him. On the
morning OF the second day we took
/ new direction. and after u while Mike
gave shout of delight at finding 4
small, jagged piece of clothing hang
ing 70 a thorn bush beside n narrow
trail
4 1T was like the flannel shirt that
Donnelly had on the morning he went
away. Then Mike and parted com
pany Mike taking the lower road
around the foot OF the mountains.
while / followed the trail over the
mountain itself. / had not walked
half an hour before all traces OF the
trail had disappeared. In searching
for it l got hopelessly lost and couldn't
even get my bearings from the sun.
because the sun had turned around
and was coming up in the west
tramped around over the mountain for
don't know how many hours At
last l came to the edge of cliff ten
or fifteen feet high. the wall of which
sIoped back out of sight
Il seized some vines to swing my
self down. and they pulled out by the
roots and fell The worst OF it was
that instead OF merely falling TO the
ledge below l struck it and rolled
down slant and fell again into the
very center OF the earth. It seemed to
me. You understand that cave was
back under that sIanting wall and l
had rolled into it When l fell my
gun flew from my hand and there was
no telling where it was. was bruised
all over, but l managed to scramble
to my feet Everything was dark
around me, but the opening through
which had come threw some light
upon the roof and showed that the
cave ran back under the mountains so
far that it was swallowed up in shal-
dow.
las for getting out might as cas-
lily have tried to climb out OF q we'll
There was the hee- rocky wall tow
ering above me with not the slightest
chance at hand or foothold. Yes. l
admitted that / didn't feel very pleas
ant While l was trying to think
what il would be best to do I was
startled by a gcowL and, looking
around saw par OF large eyes shin
ing out of the darkness toward the
other end Of the cave / could not
see the creatures form. but l knew
one thing-I had fallen into the den OF
some wild animal and probably a saw
age one, and there ! was with no
weapon but a hunting knife. Now,
anybody that wants to may fight saw
/ age animals with a knife but that
isn't in my line. A man has got to
get into mighty close quarters with an
enemy TO use knife, and, to tell the
truth. | didn't want to get very close
to the owner of that growL
Il commenced siding slowly around
! the cave keeping close to the wall
and holding my knife in case of emer-
gencies The fiery eyes turned with
me and had not moved many PAGES
before. TO my horror. a second pair of
fiery eyes appeared beside the first
and another growl broke upon the
stiffness After that 1 gave myself up
for lost AS 1 went sliding along the
wall the animals suddenly changed
their position. 50 that their eyes were
no longer visible. If anything could
have made my position more unpleas-
ant that was what 1t did. Every
moment I expected them to spring
around the cave l should think-at
lStASI L was nearly OppOSttS tu6 ODSu-
ing through which had fallen-when
found narrow cleft in the rocky
wall. and plunged into it with the
energy of despair. 1t was not more
than three feet wide; it might lead me
into unknown.depths 10 perish miser-
ably. but il couldn't be worse than
this den. Instantly a loud. ominous
growl arose behind me and / knew
/ that ] was being pursued.
Il stumbled along as hastily as /
could always with that deepening
growl following me- and directly came