Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1897-07-03

T T f is a young doctor and sur
RI geon on board one of the small
\ Il gunboats placed on a great AT
lcan lake. Fresh-colored STILL though
Tightly tanned by exposure to the lake
Winds, with merry, Irish eyes of blue
gray, a sQuare-cut jaw and obstinate
.hin. Il long upper lip, a little whisker
1t the temples and short wiry black
brown hair. Like many men of his
lass. he is a potential Darwin, and,
having no means to travel and study
Natural history, has entered the navy
Is a surgeon. He has landed on the
shores of the lake for days shooting,
hoping to get an elephant at least, but
meantime content to study sunbirds.
Let us in imagination enter his mind.
Zee through his eyes what he saw and
lay bare his thoughts.
Grass. forest of grass, with stout,
knotted stems six or eight feet high,
md abundant leaves starting from ev-
Try joint. Each stem ends in a droop-
Ing plume Of ripened seed. AS the
Doctor forces his way through the tan.
sled heritage and cane-like stalks the
seeds shower down upon him, each one
Iteaded in its descent by its long feath
cry stipule. The seeds are sharp point
I'd and barbed at the ends, so they
pierce their way through his khaki
clothing easily and scratch the per
spring flesh beneath. This raises to
evaporation the discomfort already
telt to be well-nigh unbearable, for the
doctors face is now the color of raw
beef from the sitting heat and the
frightful eXertion of forcing his way
through such q thicket Of grass, and
his hands are scratched and cut by
contact with the raZor-edged leaves.
His Terai hat is constantly being
dragged off his head and it is all he can
do to carry his gun and elbow his way
through the obstructing heritage, pro-
tecting his face as we'll as possible with
The left hand SO he is in an i'll tenn
per and cannot stop to notice the weav-
pr birds of flame color and black, the
extraordinary stick insects exactly
Stimulating stalks of grass and the
green, leaf-like mantiSeS which throng
the dense brake on either side. He is
after bigger game. The most expo
fienced of his boys pioneers him
through the sitting grass jungle, anoth-
pr boy with a second rifle follows be-
hind. The idea is elephants" ele-
plants having been reported hereabout
the previous day, when suddenly (they
have reached a space where the grass
Is little drier, a little less dense) the
pioneer hoy" comes doubling back on
his master with every gesture express
I've Of Hush" The doctor stops, mOps
his boiling face thankful for the mo-
mentary halD and asks inquiringly:
"Elephants?" NO" says the negro in
painting whisper Lion. There, there;
no. not there. You see that ant hill?
Well, climb on to its side and you will
see the lion lying in a clear space just
beyond. A male lion, truly; its body is
nearly white and its name is black"
With Express rifle at full cock, the
doctor advances gingerly through the
nterlaced grass, bent nearly double,
keeping the muzzle of the gun directed
straight before him and shields its SEN
sitiye trigger from the intrusive grass
stems. The ant hill is reached; he clam
bers to it's sloping side. Good God,
the boys right. What beauty. And
asleep, too!' But something in the doc
tors coming has aroused the lion, not
ten yards away; aroused him partially
for there is a sudden movement He
raised the great head set in collar of
yellow, brown, black name; slowly the
dim nictitating membrane passes over
the yellow eyes, but as they are focus
Ing to meet his own gaze the doctor
fires, fires precipitately (his position on
the sloping ant hill is insecure), wounds
the lion somewhere, somehow, but does
not kill him. The beast gives a sharp
explosive roar, seems to jump into the
mir with all four feet and then in three
bounds has crashed off into the grass
Jungle. Silence. "Wel, I'm muff"
thinks the doctor. HE wasn't ten
wards away and l didn't kill him dead!
don't know quite where | hit him;
In the chest, think. But he can't be
far away and l must finish him Off"
He descends from the ant hill into the
clear trampled space where the lion
had been lying. At the spot where the
beast had made it's first bound into the
dense grass hedge there is a great
SQUIRT of blood over the tangled green
ery-the dark crimson liquid still drips
from leaf blade to leaf blade. "Ah!
thought so; he must be pretty badly
hit"
Two black faces, with starting eyes
and anxious grins. now cautiously peer
around the ant hill. The doctor, rails
=, Il hoa .nnnnninoc his hnVs and