Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-02-23

lace of the country, and that word was
fever
II had trekked from dawn till eleven
oclock-a long trek-but | wanted to
get on, and then had the oxen turned
but to Craze, sending the voorlooper to
look after them, meaning to inspan
ngain about six o'clock and trek with
the moon till ten. Then | got into the
wagon and had good sleep till half
past two or so in the afternoon, when ]
rot up and cooked some meat and had
my dinner, washing it down with pan
nikin of black collector it was diff
rult to get preserved milk in those days.
Just as ] had finished and the driver, a
man called Tom, was washing up the
things, in comes the young scoundrel of
u voorlooper driving one OK before him.
"'Where are the other oxenp asked.
"'Koos,' he said, 'koos Chief, the
other oxen have gone away. turned
my back for a minute, and when l
looked round again they were all gone
except Kaptein here, who was rubbing
his back against tree
"'You mean that you have been asleep
and let them stray, you villain. | will
rub your back against q stick | an
swered feeling very angry, for it was
not pleasant prospect to be stuck up in
that fever trap for u week or so while we
were hunting for the oxen. off you go.
and you, too, Tom, and mind you don't
come back till you have found them.
They have trekked back along the Mid
delburg road and are dozen miles off
by now, III be bound. Now no words
Go, both Of your
Tom, the driver, swore and caught
the lad hearty kick, which he richly
deserved, and then having tied old Kap
tein up to the disselboom with REIN
they got their assegais and sticks and
started. | would have gone, too, only |
knew that somebody must look after the
wagon, and l did not like to leave either
of the boys with it at night. | was in a
very bad temper indeed, although l was
pretty well used to this sort of occur
renee, and soothed myself by taking a
rife and going to kill something.
For couple of hours poked about
without seeing anything that could get
shot at, but at last, just as l was again
within seventy yards of the wagon, |
put up an old Impala ram from behind
minosa thorn. He ran straight for
the wagon, and it was not till he was
passing within a few feet of it that |
could get decent shot at him. Then
pulled and caught him half way down
the spine. Over he went, dead as door
nail, and a pretty shot it was, though |
ought not to say it. This little incident
put me into rather better temper, es-
pecially as the buck had rolled over
right against the after part of the wag-
on, so l had only to gut him, fix REIN
round his legs and haul him up.
"By the time | had done this the sun
was down and the full moon was up, and
a beautiful moon it was. And then there
came down that wonderful hush that
sometimes falls over the African bush in
the carly hours of the night. No beast
was moving, and no bird called. Not a
breath Of air stirred the quiet trees, and
the shadows did not even CULVER; they
only grew. 1t was very oppressive and
very lonely, for there was not a sign of
the cattle or the boys. l was quite
thankful for the society of old Kaptein,
who was lying down contentedly against
the disselboonn, chewing the cud with a
good conscience.
presently, however, Kaptein began
to get restless. First he snorted; then
he got up and snorted again. ! could
not make it out, so, like fool, got down
off the wagon box to have look round,
thinking it might be the lost oxen COM
ing.
Next instant regretted it, for all Of
! a sudden l heard an awful roar and saw
something yellow flash past me and light
on poor Kaptein. Then came below
of agony from the OK and a crunch as
the lion put his teeth through the poor
brute's neck, and began to realize what
had happened. My rifle was in the
wagon, and my first thought was to get
it, and turned and made a bolt for it.
got my foot on the wheel and flung my
body forward on to the wagon, and there
| stopped as if | were frozen, and no
wonder, for as was about to spring up
| ! heard the lion behind me, and next
! second felt the brute-aye as plainly as
] can feel this table. felt him, say,
| shifting at my left leg that was hanging
| down.
My word, did feel queer. / don't
think that l ever felt so queer before. |
dared not move for the life of me, and
the odd thing was that | seemed to lose
! power over my leg, which had an insane
sort Of inclination to kick out of its own
mere motion-iust as hysterical people
want to laugh when they ought to be
particularly solemn. Well, the lion
shifted and shifted, beginning at my
ankle and slowly nosing away up to my
thigh. thought that he was going to
get hold then, but he did not. He only
growled softly and went back to the OK.
Shifting my head a little | got a full
view of him. He was the biggest lion |
ever saw, and | have seen great many,
and he had q most tremendous black
name. What his teeth We're like Ju
can see-look there; pretty big ones, amt
they?
"Altogether he was magnificent ami.
NAL, and as | lay there SPRAYING on the