The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-14
THE MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY, AUGUST H. 1893
OUT OF THE JAWS OF A LION.
Terrible Adventure of Young BRIT
ish TeIeGraphist.

present age IS In May, 1896 after having
served the Chartered Company as post
master and teiegraphist ia Mashonaland,
I returned to England for six months hol-
iday. At the expiration Of this period I
went back to Africa, making straight for
Beira.
About the beginning Of October last year
I found myself fairly settled down to
work in the telegraph camp. about thirty
miles distant from Kota-Kota. My mate
the only other white man at that place
besides myself-was a stout-hearted Irish
man, named Dan Morkel; and we had a
following of about sixty niggers. Our
camp was established in a small clearing
in the great forest, about two hundred
yards in circumference. This clearing
was almost entirely encircled by oil palms,
which stretched away on all sides for
countless miles. interspersed at intervals
with groups of rubber trees and prickly
cactus This open space also contained
three regularly made huts built for US by
the natives, while they themselves put up
curious little brushwood shelters for their
own use My friend Morkel occupied
one of the huts, the second was used as a
storage-house, while l was the occupant
of the third These huts We're circular in
shape, and about 10 feet In diameter. It
IS necessary here to say a word or two
about the construction of the huts. Stout
poles, two feet or three feet apart, were
first of all driven into the ground to form
the skeleton of the hut, and the walls
We're simply of mating, woven out of
strips of shredded bamboo. There was
however, an inner coating of twisted grass
and matched roof of the same material
On the fateful day I arose soon after
sunrise-say about 5:45 o'clock-and as 1
had no very pressing business on hand, l
went out into the forest around about for
a little shooting accompanied by two or
three of the niggers. My luck was not
very great, however, although I succeed
ed i'm pOtting a hartebeest; and I returned
to camp about 4 o'clock, when I had tea
with Dan MOrkel in the open air. When
the meal was over we sat smoking before
the big fire our boys had lighted for us,
and we continued to tell yarns to one an
other until nearly 10 o'clock. This gossip
in front of the camp fire in the open air
was our regular custom on fine nights.
AT this time the dry season was drawing
to a close, and the wea Their was not quite
50 warm as Ii had been. At a little after
10 o clock l began to yaWn, so l rose to
my feet and tried to peer out into the ex-
traOrdnary dense darkness of the night.
l said good night to my companion, and
we each went off to our respective huts.
intending to go to bed without further de-
lay. l was not sleepy, however, and after
getting into bed I commenced to read. l
gradually dozed off and lost consciousness.
The next thing I remember was waking
up suddenly at about midnight and listen
ing to the dOleful hoWlings of the hyenas
that surrounded the camp. The silence of
the night was strangely oppressive-so
much so, in fact, that l thought of going
| across to NIorkeIs hut and asking him to
! come out and have a shot with me. 1
changed my mind, however as he was
not keen sportsman, and went noiseless-
| ~ over to my hut when I fastened up the
door again, ana then slipped into bed.
! l couldn't have been there long before !
| fell into that sound sleep from which |
| was to have such a CHASTITY awakening. 1t
was-as near as possible O'Clock in the
morning when l suddenly became conscious
of something moving backward and up and
! down underneath my bed. just as con-
| sciousness was growing clearer and strong
! er, a loud long and indescribable sniff, sniff
! broke the stiffness of the night. Though
my experience Of Africa was not extensive
| l instantly realized that my death was at
hand and that a man-eatlng lion was I'M
der my bed. No other animal, as 1 knew
| perfectly we'll would be bold enough to
| come right into my hut in this manner.
| Now, every one will ask what were my
| feelings in this dreadful situation Though
| perfectly conscious of everything that was
! going on l was unable to utter a sound.
| My heart beat as though it would burst,
and It's tremendous throbbings almost suf-
| located me. / was almost fainting with
terror at the thought of so dreadful fate.
| After q moment or two l became aware
that the lion had got from under the bed,
and was shifting his way along the edge,
| perhaps little puzzled by the mosquito
] n
must do something, and instinctively, yet
| as noiselesSly as possible, I huddled all the
! pillows and bedclothes up over my head
and face, actuated by the same instinct,
perhaps, which prompts little boys and
| girls to dive under the bedclothes when
| afraid of the bogeyman
No sooner had 1 done this than the lion,
with a horrible purr, purr, grabbed me by
the right shoulder and dragged me out
to the floor, bedclothes and all The brute
| Immediately commenced to suck the blood
| that streamed down my neck and chest,
and every time l moved he bit them more
! savagely; as l raised my knees to get into
a crouching, protective position, he gave
me a little pat with his paws which nearly
| broke my leg, and inflicted a dreadful
| wound. After a moment or two of awful
| experience on the floor of the hut the mon
| ster dropped me out of his mouth, placed
one proud and massive paw on my chest
gave one, two, three, four terrific roars of
triumph and defiance. As these mighty
! reverberating sounds died away in deep
hoarse growls l could hear the devils
own uproar outside. The niggers were fir
ing off their guns like mad-the wonder
is they never killed each other.
1t seems that Morkel was awakened al
the first roar, and without a moment s
| delay he got out of bed, put on his trousers
| and hat, and then sailed forth with his
rifle thinking that the lion must at least
be very close to the camp, judging from
| the loudness of the roar he himself heard
He made his way. or rather felt his way,
over to my hut, doubtless wondering why
l had not come out to meet him. He was
! guided partly by the excited cries of the
! Kadirs, and partly by the loud purrs OF
the fearful brute that had got me. When
| Morkel got to the door he cried out
| "Brockman, where are you? Speak TO me
| for Gods sakew / heard him, as, indeed
/ had heard everything else, but was alb
| solutely unable TO utter sound, though
l was fully aware that my life depended
upon it. Morkel must have worked around