Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-09-24

u
s,sion and my agiintior end uncertain
ligbt. missed her ard nearly $40. Pharaoh
! The fash of tho rifle, however, threw tho
whole scene into strong relief, and Wild one
! Il was. / Gun tell you--Hith the scething mes
/ ~ oxen twisted all around the cart in such a
I fashion that their heads looked rs though
they were growing out Of their rumps and
their horns seemed TO protrude from theft
backs; the smoking fire, with just blaze IN
the heart OF the smoke; Jim-Jim in the lore
ground, where the oxen had thrown him IN
their wild rush. stretched out there in terror
and then, as a center TO tho picture, the
great, gauut lioness glaring round with
hungry, yellow eyes, roaring and whining as
she made up her mind what TO do.
at did not TAKE her long. however-just
as long as it takes fash TO die into dark
nqSs-for before could fire again or do any
thing, with a most fiendish snort she sprang
upon poor Jim-Jim.
81 heard the unfortunate lad Shrek and
then almost instantly saw his legs thrown
into the mir. The lioness had seized him by
the neck, and with a sudden jerk thrown his
body over her back so that his legs hung
down at the further side.
Then, without the slightest hesitation,
and apparently without any difficulty, she
cleared the skerm fence at single bound,
and, bearing poor Jim-Jim with her, vanished
into the darkness beyond In the direction of
the bathing place that | have already de-
scribed. We jumped up perfectly mad with
horror and fear, and rushed after her firing
shots at haphazard, on tho chance that she
would lie frightened by them into dropping
her prey, but nothing could we sec and moth
ing could VIC hear. The 1ioness had vanished
81 u.
and TO attempt to follow her till daylight was
madness We should only expose ourselves
to the risk of a like fate.
$50 with scared and heavy hearts we crept
back to the skcrm and sat down to wait for
daylight, which now could not be much more
than an hour OF. II was absolutely useless
to try even to disentangle the oxen till then,
30 all that was left for US to do was to sit and
wonder how 1t came TO pass that one should
BE- taken and the other left, and to hope
against hope that our poor servant might
have been mercifully delivered from the lions
jaws. At length the faint light came steal
ing like ghost up the long slope OF bush
and glinted on the tangled oxon's horns,
and with frightened faces We got up and
set to the task OF disentangling the oxen till
such tiIno as there should be light enough TO
enable us to follow the trail Of the lioness
which had gone off with Jim-Jim And here
a fresh trouble awaited Us, for when at last,
with infinite difficulty we had got the great
helpless brites loose 1t was only TO find that
one Of them was very sick. There was no
mistake about the way he stood with his legs
slightly apart and his head hanging down.
He had got the redwater; was sure of 1t.
OF all the difficulties connected with life and
travelling in South Africa those connected
with oxen are perhaps the worst The OK is
the most exasperating animal in the world, o
negro excepted. He has absolutely no con-
stitution, and never neglects an opportunity
OF falling sick of some mysterious disease
He will get thin upon the slightest provoca-
ton, and from mere righteousness die Of
poverty; whereas 1t is his chief delight to
turn round and refuse to pull whenever he
finds himself well in the center OF u river, or
the wagon wheel nicely fast in a mud hole
Drive him a few miles over rough roads and
you will iind that he is footsore; turn him
loose TO iced and you will discover that he
has run away, or If he has not run away he
has Of malice aforethought eaten tulip and
poisoned himself. There is always some
thing wrong with him. The OK is a brute.
1t was of piece with his accustomed be-
havior for the one in question to break out
when lion had walked of with his herder
1t was exactly what should have expected
aud was therefore neither disappointed nor
surprised.
well, it was no use crying, as | should
almost have liked to do, because if this OK
had redwater 1t was probable that the rest
Of them had it too, although they had boon
sold TO me us sailed that Is, proof against
such diseases as redwater and lung sick
One gets hardened to this sort of thing in
South Africa in course Of timc, for sup
| pose in no other country in the world is the
waste OF animal life so great.
"Se, taking my rifle and telling Harry to
| follow me for We had to leave Pharaoh to
look after the oxen-Phnraoh's lean kline
called them, | started TO sec il anythin.
could 10 found OF or nppertaining to the un-
fortunate Jim-Jim. The ground round our
| little camp was hard and rocky, and we
could not hit Off any spoor Of the lioness,
though just outside tho slierm We saw a drop
or two of blood. About 800 yards from the
camp, and littlo to the right, was patch Of
sugar bush, mixed with the usual nimosa. and
for this made, thinking that tho lioness
would have been sure to take her prey there
to devour 1t. On we pushed through the
long grass, that WIS bent down beneath the
| NNiEns VI tuo eoaklHS oeW. IN TWO minutes
We were wet through up TO our thighs. as
wet as though we had wadcd through water.
In due course, however, we reached tho
patch Of bush and In the gray light Of tho
morning cautiously and slowly pushed our
way Into 1t. 1t was very darl, under the
trees, for the sun was not yet up, so we walk.
ell with the most extreme care, half expect
ing every minute to come across the lioness
licking tho benes OF poor JimJim. But no
lioness could wo sec, and as for Jim Jim.
there was not even finger Joint OF him "a
be found Evidently they had not como
here
80 pushing through tho bush we proceeded
20 hunt every other likely spot about, witt
the same result.
- suppose she must have taken him right
away said at last, sadly enough. AT any
rate, he will DO dead By now, 50 God baye
mercy on him, wo can't help him. What's "a
be done nowF
suppose that we had better wash c,,r.
selves IN the pool and then go back and %.
something to cat | nm filthy, said Harry
This was practical, II somewhat I'M.
feeling, suggestion AZ least it strucl, me n,
mlieelins to talk OF watching when poor Jim.
Jim had been ., recently eaten. However,. I
did not let my sentiment carry ne away :,
we went down TO tho Beautiful ,not tbst I
have describol To wash I ,,.,. y a..