Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1896-02-01
A LION ADVENTURE.
The Hunters Gun Was About as Dang
IN 1,.,R

GUS as the Beast.
The hero of this adventure is B..
F. Kelso of Juniper Flats. Juniper
Flats is away down in Riverside
county in nest Of tangled brush
covered hills between Lake View
and San Jacinto. Kelso is big,
burly, bearded man, with a good hu-
mored smile and an honest face, He
makes his living by digging mama.
rita and grease wood, which is haul
ed to Riverside and sells for 81 Il
cord. One day he had his load ready
to start Oh his weary drive across
tho plains, when tho family heard
the dogs barking up on tho hill back
of the house. Kelso went for his
gun.
Now, this gun of Kelso's is o fear
full and wonderful weapon. Tt had
once been u single barrclGd shotgun,
but it had the misfortune somo time
in the misty past to have the whole
stock smashed off. Tho hammer
was left, it is true, but it wouldn't
stand cooked under any C.:cum
stances, and everything abaft the
hammer was gone. Some of my
brave readers who arc not afraid to
pull Il trigger may think it an undo
sirablo job to hold up the hammer
of Kolso's gun with the thumb
stick the whole thing ont at safe
distance from the face, shut one eye,
take aim-make ready-and let the
hammer slip-bang!
Not so with Kelso, however. He
took his fragmcntary relic and
strobe away through the brush to
sec what the dogs were raising such
a row about.
The rocks on the top of this hill
arc hugo cubes and rectangular
blocks as big as houses fresh flung
from the hand of God. The dogs
were barking about tho crevices of
one of these. Kclso climbed labori-
ously to the top of it, so as to look
down and find tho wildcat or what.
ever it might be, when, as he scaled
the crest, a giant mountain lion made
rush past him close enough to
touch, and stood glaring down saw
agely at the yellow dogs, switching
his tail with al uneasy, nervous On
ergy.
The lion made a spring down
among tho dogs, struck them off to
right and left and went in great
leaps down the mountain side that
slopes toward San Jacinto. The
dogs pursued, and after them flew
the excited Kelso. Down, down
they went for q mile or more
through brush, over rocks that
would have cost the life of any one
but mountaineer.
At last tho big cat, harassel and
confused by tho following dogs, took
refuge in his lair, cave among the
rocks, some distance above the Pico
springs, and when the man arrived,
tho dogs we're fioroely barking into
the mouth of the cavern, and the
lion was at bay. Kelso pushed in
among the dogs in the thick of the
fray. Suddenly the middle dog shot
like an arrow at the lion and seized
him by the throat. At word from
his master the hound rushed in and |
seized the great cat by the Jaw, and
the fyste followed suit by worrying
his prey in the TANKS.
The scene was indescribable. Fur
and blood, yells, growls, bowls,
snarls, demoniac cries and shrieks
filled the echoing cavern. Kelso
held up the hammer of his ancient
shooting iron and pointed tho muz-
zle in toward the fearful din. He
crept in till he was actually stand.
ing on the lions tail. AS tho great
brute raised his head above the
struggling dogs the hammer was 70.
leased. For a wonder the cartridge
exploded, and the whole top of the
lions head was blown to smither-
oens.-Los Angeles Times.