St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-03-21

imPciieu ny CURIOSITY, (lnOlcate0 by
the turned corner of his mouth
thought ~. L moved my boats under
/: bluff and sent one of my men to rs
certain the cause. l learned that thi.
community was about to go to wa,
with a neighboring tribe, and wer,
making ready to sacrifice two children
to some spirit whom they wished t.
aid them i'm the conquest. Two lion,
had been prowling around for day o.
SO. and the chiefs declared that They
had been sent to receive the sacrifics
as token of the loyalty of the tribs
to their god of war. 1 determined u
prevent such a horrible proceeding il
possible. ] decided to act alone. or
dered my men to hold the boats II
readiness to move ut any moment, anG
at dusk set out on my perilous expe
dition.
"'The Zulus had formed a sort o1
procession, and were marching toward
clump of trees about 500 yards in,
land. where they proposed to leave
the children to be devoured. I was
armed with my repeating rife, q very
fine weapon of 4s calibcr, a cutlass
and very long and strong Zulu spear
Skirting the wood with great caution
was rapidly approaching the trees
where the procession had now arrived,
when found l must make a long de
tour to avoid a swampy mud hole. into
which came very near falling. When
1 succeeded in reaching the spot where
the children had been left it was very
dark. and the Zulus had gone. The
poor little things were tied to- a tree,
which stood apart from the clump
about 2S feet. They were boy and a
girl. The boy was gagged. and the
poor little girl was in dead faint from
fright. was about to cut them loose,
when laundering roar, so near that
the ground trembled, made me clutch
my spear in horrified surprise. dared
not fire my heavy rifle. except as a last
resort. for the report would surely
bring the Zulus. looked toward the
brush and saw two eyes. which glowed
ominously in the darkness. I placed
my spear against the tree, and hold
ing the point in the direction from
which the lion must spring,I awaited
the attack.
He evidently saw the point of the
spear. for he moved uneasily from side
TO side. as If seeking chance to jump
by it. followed his motions, till, with
an angry snarl, he sat upon his
launches, thus showing his intention
to jump over it. For moment he was
motionless, and then. good heaven! he
came. As he went into the air, moved
the spear quickly under him. He came
down upon it, breaking it in an instant.
His great paw struck me'-he put his
finger on the queer scar on his cheek
and I fell with awful force against the
little girl. The lion lay motionless, for
the spear had entered his heart.
"l, with some difficulty. extricated
myself from under his heavy body,
Izhieh layseessnyspxsI10m -
girl STONE dead. but the boy wss IN.
hurt, and 1 could zee by his staring eyes,
which showed white even in that dark.
ness, that he appreciated his terrible
position.
"I cut him loose, but left the gag In
his mouth. for fear he might cry out
placed the little fellow on my back and
set out for the boats. When I reached
the edge of the mud hole, heard the
bushes cracking and knew at once l
must face y new danger, and . second
growl told me it was the other lion. I
on, and had just reached q
narrow strip of dry clay between the
bushes and the mud hole, when saw
the tell-tale eyes. 1 got as near the
edge of the Shiny swamp as possible.
and began to have some hopes of es-
cape, when she sprang at me with ter.
rifle force. sprang down and towards
ker, hoping she would jump over me
She did, and not striking me as she ex-
pected, she hit her nose on the hard
clay. and turning completed somer-
sault fell upon her back into the mud
hole. In an instant dealt her blow
with my cutlass, which added to her
I struck her again. but she
dashed the weapon from my hand, and
turning over, began to struggle through
the soft mud. knew she would be out
and upon me in an instant. I had no
recourse but to use my rifle. took a
quick aim. fired. and she fell dead, but
from the shot or the tremen-
dous blow had dealt her with the cut
lass. I could not say.
~ picked up the boy, who had
fallen in the struggle, and fairly ran
toward the boats. could, however,
make but slow progress in the dark
ness. and besides my wounded face
me great agony. l had almost
them. when tall Zulu loomed
up in my path, and the moment he
saw the boy he sprang before me.
There was no time for hesitation now.
raised my rife and fired. He gave .
frightful yell. and in moment found
was pursued. rushed ON and down
the bank, just as the foremost Zulu
reached the top. 1 sprang into the
boat, which was pushed of at once,
and amid shower of spears we made
our escape. left the boy at villag-
FRS where knew he would be well
and soon returned to America
Having finished his remarkable sto-
~, my friend excused himself and went
upstairs.
81 went to the hotel clerk and asked:
"'What is that gentleman's name =
Smith, he replied.
"syyhO is hep
"'He is the steward Of the house.
vas the answer.
"But he has been q great traveller.
has he not :? asked
oh, no, he came here green coun-
Try boy 25 years ago and has not been
away a week since
"'How did he get that scar"
lueriesl.
Had ''scrapping match" with
:ook. and the fellow up with three
lined meat fork and hit him clip. He
is queer genius the clerk continued:
people always try to size him up, and
10 matter what they guess he is. he
yives them some warn to At the occa-