The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1896-05-30
AFTER THE KING OF BEASTS.
Hunting His Royal Hishness
in South Africa

near the river Malopo. I had with me
two Kafir boys, a good horse, and Of
course a complete hunting and camp
ing outfit. Lions were said to be nu-
merous in the neighborhood, and l was
very DESTROYS Of securing a specimen.
One nisht-I was awakened by the
barking Of the dogs and the uneasiness
of the, oxen. 1 grabbed my carbine
hastily and endoavored to make out
what caused the disturbance. By the
meager light ditfused by the young
moon l could just distinguish the forms
Of three large animals on the ridge
above the camp. l could see that they
were lions, and shook up the already
awakening Kafirs to make up the fire
again. l had half a mind to fire, but
thought it safer not to do so, the dis
lance being too great, so l waited until
morning, and as the flames began to
shoot up and brighten the surround
ings the lions became less plain to
view. l saw them, however, moving
away over the ridge. The remainder
Of the night I sat up, for our animals
A~IS SASA III oAu oAAAlAh5
whilst every now and then came that
rumEling roar, which once heard, is
never to be forgotten. But nothing
occurred, although l was conscious Of.
some creature prowling around close
at hand. The roar of the lions kept all
the while sounding more and more dis
tant, and as dawn began to break it
ceased altogether. As oon as it was
light enough to see to any purpose, I
stepped out, and as I did so q large
hyena jumped up from some bones
lying, ear by and made off. l fred at
him and rolled him over, and before he
could recover or the dogs get up, ]
luckily got another bullet into him,
this time in the head. l fear he would
have made short work Of the dogs, for
such a pair Of jaws would have cut
them in two at n snap. A hyena Is
never beautiful, and this one was SIM
ply hideous. Just for c%uriosity's sake
I went to where he had been feeding
on the remains of an Eland COW, which
I had driven to within one hundred
yards Of the camp two days previously,
and I found he had cracked up the
thigh bone just as If it had been girls
tie.
Next morning l was, of course, about
looking for signs; but could make moth.
ing out as to lions. On going down to-
ward the river some half mile from
camp my attention was attracted by
the unusual conduct of a leopard. He
was cutting all sorts of capers, at one
time blowing along the ground with
his head, at another rearing upright
and tearing at his throat with his fore
paws. All this was curious, but it wac
my opportunity, and I lost NJ time in
putting a couple Of bullets into him,
the second of which laid him out NICE
ly without giving me the trouble which
usually falls to my lot when tackling
these great cats. On proceeding to in
vestigate the reason for his strange
performance, my wonder ceased. 1t
appeared that he had tackled a porcu-
pine with more gusto than discretion
ten inserted under the root of his
tongue and was working deeper and
deeper all the time. The torture the
poor animal endured must have been
awful, and I don't imagine it could
have survived. No dead "Porky" ap-
peared to be around, so thanking him
in his absence, I took the beautiful
skin of the leopard.
On the following day I IA laid up
with an attack of fever, which kept
me idle for some time. My two boys,
however, attended assiduously to my
needs, and in due course I got about
again. The lions, during my sickness,
had once more appeared in the neigh
borhood; but as there was abundance
of game about, they did not. modest us
in any way.
"Well, 1 have said that I got n of
these lions after all, though he took
quite a lot OF getting one way and
another, escaping me altogether on
one occasion. I was not over and
above strong in body, but was very
much so in purpose, and it annoyed
me to hear the roaring night after
night and not render an account for
it; besides our animals were getting
almost beyond control, from the inces-
SAINT tension on their nerves.
Strolling away toward the hills one
morning l suddenly came on a lion
lying on a rock. His muzzle stretched
straight towards me between his huge
paws; his body, position, and sur
r%oundings adapting themselves so adj
mirably to each other, that l was