The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1897-10-07
STALKED BY 4 Lion.
BY DIR. J. II. PORTER,
Author of wild Beasts" etc.

| captain" Inquired Dirk Pfeiffer, at whose
station in the Transvaal our party one night
met another band of hunters from the far
interior, did it effer to you happen so dat
a lion vas on your track? 2"
mo" replied Mason. "An equally dam
gerous animal, the American tiger, once
| trailed me, but never n lion, although l
! know that this sometimes occurs"
| Yes, answered Mai. Valentine, it GER
| tainly does. Up towards Lake Ngami, the
country Anderson made famous among big
| game hunters, we met with two hali-breed
Hottentots belonging to an ivory trader who
| lost his lie that way"
Mine Cot und he vas defoured?" our
host calculated.
Fill up my glass, Dirk, and reach me a
| light" answered Valentine. IN tell you
what his gun-bearers, or after-r ders, as they
are called in Africa, reported, and there Is
no reason to doubt their story. This man,
it seems, had been unlucky. Gathering ele-
/ plant tusks is an uncertain business at best
| He had plenty of supplies however, and
pushed beyond his intended range TO shoot
and barter By all accounts he must have
reached the Namaqua country, where the
tribes are scattered through invasion, game
+. is scarce, and trustworthy guides cannot
|
what that means. When the oxen were
nearly used up his horses too weak to hunt,
and it was quite as bad to turn back as TO
go on, tn S unfortunate had to make camp
| and explore for himself. But before leav
ing he did something / could not make out
exactly what from the story. Certainly
every native was then in state OF despair,
| utterly worthless, and infinitely trouble
some. So suppose he got up some kind OF
| hocns poems to encourage them. Heaven
knows! Maybe the shadow Of doom was
creeping over him then, and he may have
mingled supplications to higher power
with those antations intended to eDcour-
aye his attendants. Let us hope so. What
he said was to the effect that sign had
been sent to show how food and wafer
would soon be abundant. This, of course,
changed their mood for a while, and taking
those men by whom the tale was told to me,
the trader went off.
"These three had not gone far before their
way was crossed by lion pugs so big that
both Hottentots knew they could only have
been made by witch-beast. Here IN Africa
it is the possessed lion that hants magma
ton, while Hindus cover before a purrut
bagh (man-tiger). Both monsters are fanci-
fui modes of accounting for things which
seem to BIZ systematically shocking. The
dingy, crooked little creature who related
these events had a withered arm, no eye on
the left side, and only some remains of
cheek. Such reminders were likely to i'm
press him with those circumstances under
which he was injured.
:" He said that when they spoke of the
witch lion their Boss swore there were no
such things. On this account both believed
him to be fay" (under spell) That night
the voice of this brute rolled along the desert
and shook their hearts, for they .slt that
it followed them. Its harsh. c,-aacing
thunder was far more omnous than hum
cry lions roar, SO these men were now GER
tain the monster scented blood and would
have it. They sat by their fire till dawn,