The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-10
a LUCKY SHOT.
How It Killed Five Enemies of a
Hunter.
From the Chicago Tribune.

How It Killed Five Enemies of a
Hunter.
From the Chicago Tribune.
A group of men were sitting on the no
| tel porch swapping yarns "Some peo-
| pie do not believe in luck; well, do, and
| l will tell you why" said the traveller, as
| he paused and deliberately put his right
| leg across the knee of his left and
| glanced pensively down the street.
The group pricked up their ears, for
| the traveller was famous Story teller,
and all rightly judged that this emar1
was but the prelude to the recital of one
! Of his adventures
I when L was some fifteen years
| younger than l am now" continued the
! traveller, Il was exceedingly fond of
hunting. One fall my love of this sport
led me to take a hunting trip in the Rocky
Mountains. l was ambitious and wanted
to add grizzly bears skin and a few elk
heads to my collection of trophies, and,
incidentally, if it might be, to let day
| light through an Indian or two.
| well, for two weeks / hunted without
getting sight of nair, or track of elk, bear
or Indian, and the thing was beginning to
| get mOnOtonOus, when, one afternoon
| found me traveFsing the bottom of a deep
canon. l was alone, my guide having re-
| NAMED IN camp on account of sprained
ankle. The bed of the canon was rent
| with deep assures, and covered with
| great rocks, and its sides were scanned
and cracked. A few stunted shrubs and
trees, of the. kind the elk is fond of feed
| ing on, grew along the sides and bottom
! Of the canon, and hoped to find some of
| the ANIMALS here cropping the tender
| twigs At last, just as ! rounded a high
point of rocks, caught sight of an elk, Il
| noble fellow, standing some ten rods up
| the canon, with his face toward me. He
was nosing the air suspciously, and |
| feared l would not get shot at him at
all unless | was quick about it. Accord
ingly, | threw my rife to my sh boulder,
and taking hasty aim at the broad fiat
| forehead, fired.
Il was totally unprepared for the start
ling effects of that shot. Almost at the
| instant my finger pressed the trigger
! there came puff of white smoke from
behind rock some twenty rods up on
| the opposite side of the canon, and saw an
Indian leap to his feet, only to fall back
| ward, while at the same moment pierre
| ing scream, seemingly coming from di-
! rectly over my head, caused me to look
quickly up. In mid air, with great paws
| outstretched, and long, sharp nails eX-
| tended, l beheld u mountain lion appar-
entity about to drop on my head.
bounded to one side. AS l did
so my blood almost froze with horror, for
| L Ldu Jun DGu ulItCblN over Il large GdbUIe-
| snake, which now lay not two feet from
me, with head reared ready to strike
| Before | could make a movement to
defend myself from this new danger down
| upon the snake fell the body of the lion
| crushing out it's life. The lion rolled
| over once or twice, and then to my sur
| prise lay still [ had not had time to
| recover from the terror and astonish-
| ment caused by these startling Incidents
when my ears were greeted by terrific
| believing, and looking up the canon |
| saw the elk charging down upon me.
| whired about intending to seek safety in
| fight, when to my utter confusion not a
| dozen feet away and directly in the path
! must pass if l continued my fight
monster of a grizzly bear reared himself
up on his hind legs and with wide-open
mouth rushed for me. was IN an awful
| situation. | could see no possible way of
escaping. On the right hand was the
| perpendicular wall of the canon and on
the left a deep chasm. Before me was
| he grizzly bear and behind tine rushing
| elk. Death faced me whatever way
! turned ! trust | may never feel the hor-
rOr of that moment again The grizzly
bear sprang forward to seize and crush
| my life out with his strong arms, and the
elk gave a mighty bound, his huge horns
| lowered to transfXmy body.
AT that moment my heart seemed to
! sink into my boots, and fell fat upon the
! ground. With crash, like that of the
collision of two locomotives, the animals
met over my PROSTATE form. The terrific
| momentum of the elk bore himself and the
| bear from over my body. For about five
| seconds there was a tremendous struggle
| then both beasts fell, locked together, to
the ground, and il a moment more had
| expired. One Of the sharp prongs Of the
horns of the elk had pie ed the heart of
| 81 oil
broken by the bear in his death struggle
Il bounded to my feet, not knowing
! whether to run or to stand still, so sud
den, so terrific, and so many had been the
dangers which had threatened me- But
everything was quiet, and all of the foes
were deau. On investigating found that
NV rife ball had struck the elk at the
horns. where the bone is thick aud hard,
and after partially stunning him, had
glanced diagOnaly across the canon and
pierced the brain OF the Indian, who, con
cealed behind rock, was about to fire
upon me The shock of the ball had
b6en sufficient to defect the aim of the
Indian enough to cause him to miss me
and pierce the heart of the mountain lion
lust at the moment he sprang upon me
from a cleft in the rocks above my head,
The lion landed upon the rattlesna6e and
crushed the life out of him before he had
had time to strike, and the elk and the
bear in their eagerness to kill me had
destroyed each other.
i call that lucky shot, at least for
me- because il saved my life five times
and was the death of an Indian, grizzly
bear, an elk, rattlesnake and a noun
tain lion"
And the traveller deliberately re
moved the right leg from the knee of the
left and glanced upward with the look of
a man who is confident that he is an
| especial fayoritc Of Providence.
After Breakfast