The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1897-07-03

r r e is young doctor and a sur
RI geon on board one of the small
a Il gunboats placed on great At
dcan lake. Fresh-colored still, though
slightly tanned by exposure to the lake
winds, with merry, Irish eyes of blue
gray, square-cut jaw and obstinate
hin, long upper lip, a little whisker
It the temples and short wiry black
brown hair. Like many men of his
Aass, 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 a days shooting
hoping TO get an elephant at least, but
meantime content to study sunbirds.
Let us in imagination enter his mind.
lee through his eyes what he saw and
lay bare his thoughts.
Grass! a forest of grass, with stout.
knotted stems six or eight feet high,
Ind abundant leaves starting from ev-
Fry joint. Each stem ends in a droop-
ing plume of ripened seed. AS the
DOCTOR forces his way through the tan
seeds shower down upon him, each one
,teadied in it's descent by it's 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
fa1t +o no xvaII-nioh 11nbno 10 bIo for tba
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-
er 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 eXpe-
rienced of his boys pioneers him
through the sitting grass jungle, anoth-
er 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 a little drier, little less dense) the
pioneer hoy" comes doubling back on
his master with every gesture express
I've Of "Iushn" The doctor stops, mopS
his boiling face thankful for the mo
mentary halt) and asks inQuiringly
"Elephants| No. says the negro il
painting whisper, Lion! There, there
no. not there. You see that ant hill
Well, climb on to its side and you viii
see the lion lying in a clear space jus
beyond. A male lion, truly; it's body i
nearly white and it's name is black"
With Express rifle at full cock, the
doctor advances gingerly through thu
lnterlaced grass, bent nearly double
keeping the muzzle of the gun directed
straight before him and shields its sen
sitive trigger from the intrusive grass
stems. The ant hill is reached; he clam
bers to its sloping side. Good God
the boys right What a beauty AnC
asleep, toor But something in the doc
tors coming has aroused the lion, no
ten yards away; aroused him partially
for there is a sudden movement. H
raised the great head set in a collar o
81 ~ 4,
dim nictitating membrane passes owe
the yellow eyes, but as they are focus
Ing to meet his own gaze the docto
fires, fires precipitately (his position o.
the sloping ant hill is insecure), wound
the lion somewhere, somehow, but doe
not kill him. The beast gives a shar
explosive roar, seems to jump into tn
air with all four feet and then in tire
bounds has crashed off into the gras
Jungle. Silence. "Well, I'm a muff
thinks the doctor. HE wasn't tie
yards away and l didn't kill him dead
/ don't know quite where 1 hit him
In the chest, / think. But he can't b
far away and l must finish him off.
He descends from the ant hill into tn
clear trampled space where the Ito
had been lying. At the spot where tn
beast had made its first bound into tn
dense grass hedge there is a gres
squirt of blood over the tangled greer
ery-the dark crimson liquid still drip
from leaf blade to leaf blade. "Al
thought so; he must be pretty badl
hit"
Two black faces, with starting eye
nnd anxious nr.ins NOW cn11tinnslv ne4