The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-01-09

c-.Ara olan desert, ana roar rnat WOKE
tAe echoes in the mountain gorges ar
above his defiant head. The yellow
smoothness of his 81 de was broken by
a jagged wound outlined in dark clot-
ted blood, but his courage was IN
daunted by the yelping pack of dogs
that surrounded him, making false
starts at him, yet afraid to attack him.
Of his mate nothing was to be seen.
The hunters, each anxious to claim the
lion as his trophy, pressed forward
and, aiming over the surglng mass of
hounds, fred upon the majestic crea-
ture facing death so resolutely.
Wounded in half a dozen plac es, the
lion sprung into the air with a scream
of agony and rage, then fell, to be in
stantly covered by the dogs, barking
in triumph over defeated foe. But
they had fattered themselves too soon
that the prey was theirs, for with a
desperate courage the lion struck out
right and left, sending his enemies
heels over head with blows of his pow
erful paws and ripping and tearing
with his unsheathed claws and giant
molars. Their red blood mingled with
his own and dyed the sand crimson,
and they gave back for an instant, I'M
til, seeing that the mountain king
was dying even as he fought, they re-
turned to the battle.
But as they fell upon him a roar
from the frowning heights of the
10,
was at hand The mate W as returning
and had scented the battle from
afar. In another moment she leaped
into view, pausing on the pinnacle of
tall spire Of rock and surveying the
ccene aelow with an angry cant of her
sleek, cat-like head. Outlined against
the tender blue of the morning sky she
seemed a yellow carving of yellow
marble, but only for brief moment
for as her topaz eyes caught sight Of
her dead mate and the frantic dogs, |
sne sprung down to the crag next be- !
meath her, just as a volley of shots /
shattered the extreme end of the /
one she had that instant left |
She descended with magnificent bounds !
that sent her 1.-the body from peak to |
peak with incredible rapidity, paying |
not the slightest apparent attention to
the dogs or the hunters and seeming |
only to see the fallen monarch below.
She reached the little gorge where he |
lay. A second volley had failed to stay |
her as she came bounding down, but |
now third greeted her as she sprung |
from the last spur of rock, and gush |
of crimson blood marked where some |
bullet had found a home in her quiz |
ering flank. 81 |
Then for the first time she seemed to |
notice her human foes, and leaping to |
the side of her dead mate faced them /
with a roar of defiance, even as she |
bent her head and licked the bloody /
carcass at her feet The dogs, taking /
this for sign of timidity, few at her /
ferociously, but the liouess, rendered /
furious and reckless by her mates /
death, met this attack with savage !
determination that sent sever al away /
yelping, wounded severely, and |
stretc he'd others dead, while all hest
tated to continue the fight
Turning once mere to her dead COM
panion she bestowed one loving caress
on his stiffened form and then faced /
the mountain, and would have sprung |
away had not the hunters, who had
feared to FIRE upon her before lest they
wound the dogs instead, here succeeded
in breaking one of her shoulders By
single shot out of score. She fell for
ward with a cry and rolled over on the
Yellow sands that drank her blood.
Once more the dogs attacked her, and
slough she fought like a fury With
tooth and nail they mastered her.
Again and again she endeavored TO
light herself. only to fall forward on
he broken bone, while her determined
'Oes tore at her limbs and sought her
slender throat. The hunters eadeav-
,red TO call Of the frantic hounds. but
hey could not De induced 20 leave their
,rev. to which they chung until the
beautiful wild creature Lay dead and
beside her mate-GaIena :
Mex Ger of Philadelphia Times.