The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-08-20
coon STORIES OF THE PRESENT DAY
An Imprisoned Hunter Secs . Battle Be.
tween Lions.

Copyright, 1928. by Chnrle, n, Letri.
| We had been camped on tho Limpopo River.
which forms tho northern boundary OF the
Trannsvaal, South Africa. when Capt. Jordon
had n fall from his horse and broke leg. We
| fixed him UP as we'll as we could. and then the
payinaster set out on horseback to bring a
surgeon from Albasini, sixty miles to the
south. It was on Monday morning tho acct
don't happened. 1t rained heavily all day. but
Tuesday morning was bright and clear, and
the natives got out blankets and clothing to
dry in tho sun. At the same time ovcrhaued
the guns. and oil were unloaded when there
was q sudden alarm in camp. One OF
the natives had discovered n large serpent
lurking under some bushes, and the shout
ing and running stampoded the Cap
tain's horse. lie gallored away up the
stream as fast as he could GO and thinking
only Of recovering him as speedily as possible
rose up and ran after him, taking no weap-
ons Of any sort 1t wasn't the most sensible
| thing could have done. and yet 1t wasn't 80
very foolish. ] didn't suppose he would go
over half mile. and though there were plenty
Of lions about we seldom ran across them on n
bright day.
| ran up the narrow path about n mile before
sighting the horse. He was facing me and had
| got over his scare. but as l came nearer he
| turnet and kicked up his heels and trotted OH
| Here and there was tree. and there were
many bushes scattered about. the soil was
sterile and rocky, and near tho centre of the
plain was a hill which was little more than a
mass OF rock. The horse passed to the left Of
this hill. and followed. He was not over 200
yards away. head up and paving the earth in
play. when full grown male lion made long
spring and aightod on his back.
The horse uttered a horrible cry and sank
down. probably having his back broken. 1t
I at..A
What no d'' hannonod Tho ,inn stooJ thers
WILLY na' n"ppeneu. ne i'on s.oou ' ."ele
and looked me full in the face and growled
| mon,cin,,,v 7 ho,op hoctipg ,vav and no
tho beast showed no disposition to follow me
no sooner got two or throe bushes between
ia than turned 70 run.
There was another surprise party In store
for me as / turned about. Not forty feet away
stoou noheS7. was piopaol' 'ne .'fs' WHO
man she had ever seen at close quarters. Her
Of f" doubt on al" her part. and made haste
to, get out of the way before she should
take it int her head hat was toy. an
the hill. and 1t was doubtless the fact Of
seeing hole among the rocks about ten
induced me to seek shelter. Had / Ganked
tile iioness and gone my way all would have
Without With e'' dilcaIty and backed into It.
never stopping to think that it might
he the OF wild beast a den or
serpents. The opening would not hive let me
in had l weighed loo pounds There wasn't
much space behind it-only sufficient to enable
mo to sit down. confess to being thoroughly
ratified for II time and never recall the situa-
ton without wanting to kick myself. After an
thing had done. and determined to crawl out
and make for camp l had my head and one
sniuted my ears. and right in front Of me and
not thirty feet away beheld both lions More
| fri Inv 10 ,oth 80 haa
1 was boxed ed up, and the only hope had was
that II kept quiet the lions would soon retire.
lair was not far away. Indeed. [ got an odor
now and then which satisfied me that I had
| tinueI to shine the beasts might have laid up,
as the bushes offered but little shade but the
Cooler waited an NH hour ii by my Watch before
looking out again The lioness lay on her
back. feet in, ill.,, air. sound asleep, with the
his paws and his big yellow eyes wide open.
He did not growl nor move but his eyes
shone like Goals Of fire at sight OF me. Willie
he could almost cover the distance at a single
spring. was not afraid Of him. had only to
was twics too large for the hole and the rocks
we're too solid to be moved. got my watch
where ,sSd the ~e sn tnH made
caught his eyes and began staring at him. It
wasn't a que stion Of how long he could stand
At the end OF seventeen minutes my eyes
ached so that had to close them. During all
III,
nothing OF betraying nervousness.
knew that Capt Jordon al the camp would
send some OF the men out after u bit to search
for me. but as none OF our black fellows knew
much of the use OF firearms and were also
cowardy when there was no white man to lead
them did not anticipate that their search
would extend as far as the hill About half an
hour before noon / heard them firing their
musk cts and caught the sound OF their voices,
but they we're a long way of The Disc used
up the lions. and ior two or three minutes they
evinced a disposition to stink away The
lioness and hur cub did retreat few rods.
but the male held his ground and they soon
returned There were eight natives in the
party searching for me. and though their
near approach might have sent the lions away.
tho chances were at least even that they would
have been attack ed They returned to camp
to report that they could discover no trace OF
me- and the Captain. who was suffering, had
to ne content with hopin. that would come
in during the day. | mad eaten a very hearty
breakfast and was not very hungry at noon.
Like most other hunters. / had restricted my
self as to water ard could go from fifteen to
twenty hours without suffering. However. l
began to fee nut out over the situation soon
after noon, and determined to sec what could
! do toward driving my ialers away
was ten feet above the level and the lions
lay under the bushes about thirty feet directly
in front OF and below me. Both wer. cycling
me. while the cub irskoI around and occa-