The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-14

jaws and then bit savagely in another
place and commenced to suck again. lay
on my back at the base of the tree with
the lion on the top of me, occasionally
gazing at me with his great, luminous,
greenish-gray eyes, which seemed TO fill
me with unutterable loathing and horror,
so eXpressionless and cold were they yet
so dia bolical in their ruthless cruelty.
ought to tell you from the very first L
had not ceased to wonder how il was that
the lion didn't kill me outright-eiIher by
biting my head or tearing me to pieces
with his terrible claws. But the lion
seemed perfectly content and quiet with
his prey. l felt his long, rough tongue
scraping up my thighs and abdomen and
as il crept up higher and higher, 1 felt lit
tie gusts of his horrible, sinking breath,
which was so utterly vile and loathsome
that l thought L should faint, so intense
was the disgust that filled me. l half
turned my head away, but still the long,
greedy tongue rose higher and higher to-
ward my throat. Up 10 this time l had
been rejecting in a strangely calm man
ner on the curious aspect of this frlghtful
affair, precisely as though I were a dis
! interested outsider instead of the dying
victim of the man-eater.
AS 1 felt the lions carrion-soiled jaws
near by face and throat however, / was
seized with terror and insdnctiVely l
| threw UP both arms and thrust them far
| in between his jaws, and. indeed, almost
| down his throat As l did so the mon
| ster snapped off three fingers of my right
| hand, and, horrible as it may seem to
! the reader, l actually left my arms and
| hands lying idly in the lions jaws.
Thank God" 1 thought, "he is salts
| fled with sucking the bleeding fingers he
| has bitten off. and long as I can keep
| him at arms length with my hands in
his mouth 1 will have yet few moments
Of life left for earnest prayer" And
prayed-God how I prayed. Sometimes
it seemed to me it was a little nard to
die in this way, and 1 felt l didn't want
TO leave my bones in that horrible place
| My life however, was fast ebbing away.
and later on didn't seem to mind it so
much. 1 grew fainter and fainter and
so 1 am told kept moaning feebly.
During all this time the boys kept
| screaming MANGA, Nkangaw Che lion,
the lion) just as if they themselves were
| in any danger in the lofty trees up which
was simply waltzing around the clearing
| in utter bewilderment of agony of mind.
| The appalling blackness of the night add
| ed a horror to the thing which no pen
could describe. At last my friend did
! induce two of the niggers to make a cou-
pie of torches of dry grass and by the
lurid and uncertain light of these Nor
KEEL was enabled, though very indistinctly,
| to see the lion standing over my pros
| trate body. He was an enormous, gaunt
brute, over ten feet in length. and with
a luXuriant tawny name that impaired
to him a most majestic appearance. Dan
| told me afterward that as he approached
with his gum l was moaning or croning
| softly TO myself. Up to this time my
| unfortunate companion was afraid to
shoot lest he should kill me instead of
the lion He screamed out: Keep cool,
| oIrK ,ar,ts 4 III
"only keep cool, and I will do what I
can for you" AS he approached the lion
took his fangs out OF my groin, which
| was by this time a mere pulp, and he
| faced about, growing and snarling horri-
| bly,, and with one big paw on my chest.
How Morkel kept his head at ten PAGES
from the lion 1 don't know, but, anyhow,
he leveled his rifle and fired. The lion
Immediately staggered back a few PAGES,
clear of my body, for he had been hit
fairly in the eye, and the ball, after
touching the brain, had come out through
the lower jaw, which it had broken bad
ly. Nickel instantly proceeded to reload,
but he was in such a desperate hurry that
the lever of his rifle jammed and he
found himself practically helpless. VIII
it be believed that this desperate man,
now fairly at his wits end, rushed for
ward toward the lion and dealt him Il
terrific blow on the head with the stock
of his rife? This did the lion no harm,
whereas MorkeIs gun was literally
crumpled up. My friend, however, Gt
once informed his torch-beater to run
over to the hut and get my rife and with
this he killed the lion in two other shots.
1t is important to remember that when
Morkers first shot rang out in the night
air the lion had been worrying, biting and
sucking me for about thirty minutes.
Wen, the moment the brute reiterated
from me I actually got up on to my legs
and ran for twenty or thirty yards! Then
l fell like a stone to the earth, and /
remember no more until the next day,
when l found myself in a warm bath
that had been prepared by Morkel "a
wash my wounds-of which l had one and
twenty! My poor friend tells me that my
naked body presented so shocking, so re-
voting a spectacle--my hands groins and
thighs being chewed and bloodless, like
paper pulp-that he nearly lost his rea-
son and became delirious All that night,
however, my heroic companion had sat
by my bedside until daybreak. and vel!
do l remember that with awakened con-
scionsness came the first poignant shock
of agony from my wounds.
When DR.. Prentice saw me at the mis-
sion station he told me thai my case was
utterly hopeless. My right leg 1 was told
would have TO go, but owning 10 my con-
dition it was deemed inadvisable 10 am
putate it Immediately on my arrival
Then there was no chloroform at the mis-
sion station, and the ether had gone wrong
through the climate and, there
fore would not act. Thus
had to lie conscious and screaming
in agony while the doctor was cutting and
carving away the mortified flesh from all
parts of my tortured body. It is perfect
ly clear that my day had not come for all
the bites in the thigh had missed the arte-
~ by about an eighth of an 5nchl
And night after night l went through
the whole fearful business again. Ghast-
~, horrible Nightmares took possession Of
me, and I would have gone raviug mad