The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-07-01

have been reit box Of peculiarly con-
fiding nature to lay itself down with the
lion like the lamb of prophecy, but sup
pose that the reeds were thick and that it
kept long wav off
"Well, | let the reit box go, and it went
like the wind, and kept my eyes fixed
upon the reeds The fire was burning like
furnace now, the flames cracking and
roaring as they bit into the reeds, sending
spouts of fire twenty feet and more into the
air,and making the hot air dance about it ina
way that was perfectly dazzling. But the
reeds werestill half green and created an en-
ormous quantity of smoke, which came roll
ing toward me like curtain, lying very low
on account of the wind. Presently above
the cracking of the fire heard startled
roar, then another and another So the
lions were at home.
81 was beginning to get excited now,
for, as You fellows know, there is nothing
in experience to warm up your nerves like
lion at close quarters, unless it is a
wounded buffalo, and | got still more so
when made out through the smoke that
the lions were all moving about on the
extreme edge of the reeds. Occasionally
they would pop their heads out like rab-
bits from hurrow, and then, catching
sight of me standing about fifty yards out,
draw them back again. | knew that it
must be getting pretty warm behind them,
and that they could not keep the game up
for long, and | was not mistaken, for sud
denly all four of them broke cover together,
the old black named lion leading by few
yards. 1 never saw a more splendid sight
in all my hunting experience than those
four lines bounding across the veldt, over
shadowed by the dense pail of smoke and
backed by the fiery furnace of the burning
reeds
II reckoned that they would pass, on
their road to the bushy kloof, within about
five and twenty yards of me; so taking a
long breath l got my gun well on to the
| lions shoulder-the black named one
30 as to allow for an inch or two Of motion,
aud catch him through the heart. | was
on, dead on, and my finger was just begin
ming to tighten on the trigger when sud
denly | went blind bit of reed ash had
drifted into my right eye. | danced and
rubbed, ,and got it more or less clear just in
time to see the tail of the last lion vanish
ing round the bushes up the kloof.
''If ever man was mad, was that
man. 1t was too bad, aud such shot in
the open too However, / was not going
to be beaten, so just turned and marched
for the kloof Tom, the driver, begged
and implored me not to go; but, though
as a general rule l never pretended to be
very brave (which | am not, was deter
mined that would either kill those lions
or they should kill me, So 7 told Tom
that he need not come unless he liked, hut
| was going, and being . plucky fellow, a
swazi by birth, he shrugged his shoulders,
muttered that was mad or bewitched and
followed doggedly in my tracks
ave soon got to the kloof, which was
about three hundred yards in length and
but sparsely wooded, and then the real fun
began. There might be . lion hehind
every b4sh-there certainly we're four lions
somewhere the delicate question was where
peeped apd poked and looked in every
possible direction, with my heart ip my
mouth, and was at last rewarded by catch
ing glimpse Of something yellow moving
behind bush. At the same moment from
another bush opposite me out burst one of
the cubs and galloped back toward the
burned out pan. l whipped around and
let drive snap shot that tipped him head
over heels, breaking his hack within two
inches of the root Of the tail, and there he
lay helpless, but glaring Tom afterward
killed him with his assagi.
Il opened the breech of the gun and
hurriedly pulled out the old case, which,
to Judge from what elsued, must, | sup
pose, have burst and left portion of its
fabric sticking to the barrel. At any rate,
when I tried to get in the new caseit would
only enter half way, and-would you be-
lieve 1t P-this was the moment that the
lioness, attracted, no doubt, by the outcry
of her cub, chose to put in an appearance.
There she stood, twenty PAGES or so from
me, lashing her tail and looking just as
wicked as it is possible to conceive. Slowly
l stepped backward, trying to push in the
new case, and as I did SO she moved on in
little runs, dropping down after each run,
The danger was imminent, and the case
would not go in-
@At the moment I oddly enough thought
of the cartridge maker, whose name | will
not mention, and earnestly hoped that if
the lion got me some condign punishment
would overtake him. 1t would not go in,
so tried to pull it out. 1t would not
come out either, and my gun was useless
if could not shut it to use the other bar
rel might as well have had no gun.
Meanwhile | was walking backward, keep
ing my eye on the lioness, who was creep
ing forward on her belly without sound,
but lashing her tail and keeping her eye on
me, and in it saw that she was coming in
few seconds more. | dashed my wrist
and the palm of my hand against the brass