Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1898-12-01
rNS

Ssss, eight. In May,
SsSS 1896, after having
bWe &'E'ts.yEg served the Char
III ID W tered Company as
~ " @I u postmaster and tele-
ez2ss1 graphist in Mash
-1s's--->5as-I--S onaland, returned
to England for six months holiday
At the expiration of this period [ went
back to Africa, making straight for
Beira.
About the beginning Of October last
year [ found myself fairly settled
down to work in the telegraph camp,
about thirty miles distant from kota-
Kota. Ny mate-the only other white
man at that place beside myself-was
stout-hearted Irishman, named Dan
Morkel. and we had following of
about sixty Africans. Our camp was
established in small clearing in the
great forest, about two hundred yards
in circumference. This clearing was
almost entirely oncircled by oil palms,
which stretched away on all sides for
countless miles, interspersed at inter
walls 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 brush
wood shelters for their own use. My
friend Morkel occupied one of the huts,
the second was used as a storage
house, while | was the occupant OF
the third. These huts were circular
=. IL. J II, tan font dI0mp-
ter. 1t IS necessary here to say
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 were simply
of mating, woven out OF strips Of
shredded bamboo. There was, how
ever, an inner coating of twisted grfie
rial.
On the fateful day l arose soon af-
ter sunrise-say about 545 o'clock
and, as had no very pressing bust
ness on hand, went out into the for
est around about for little shooting,
accompanied by two or three of the
natives Ny luck was not very great,
however, although succeeded in pot
ting hartebeest; and I returned to
camp about o'clock, when I had tea
with Dan Morkel in the open air.
When the meal was over we sat smok
ing before the big fire our boys had
lighted for us, and we continued tc
tell yarns to one another until nearly
10 o'clock. This gossip in front Of
the camp fire in the open air was oul
regular custom on fine nights. AZ
this time the dry season was drawing
to close, and the weather was not
quite so warm as it had been. At 9
little after 10 o'clock began to yawn,
so arose to my feet and tried &c
peer out into the extraordinary dense
darkness of the night [ said good
night to my companion, and we each
went off to our respective huts, in
tending to go to bed without further
delay. I was not sleepy, however
aud after getting into bed 1 com
menced to read. [ gradually dozeC
of and lost consciousness. The mex
thing I remember was waking up sud
denly at about midnight and listening
to the doleful howlings of the hyena'
that surrounded the camp. The 81
lence of the night was strangely OPP
pressive-so much so, in fact, that
thought of going across to Morkel'l
hut and asking him to come out an(
have a shot with me. [ changed my
mind, however, as he was not keer
sportsman, and went noiselessly ovel
to my hut, when I fastened up the
door again, and then slipped into bed
[ couidn't have been there long be
fore fell into that sound sleep from
which L was to have such a ghastl,
awakening 1t was--as near as pos
sible--2 o'clock in the morning whel
I suddenly became conscious of some
thing moving backward aud up ant
down underneath my bed. just as con
seriousness was growing clearer ant
stronger, loud, long and indescriba
BILE sniff, sniff broke the stiffness 0
the night. Though my experience o
Africa was not extensive, [ Instant,
realized that my death was at hand
and that man eating tiger was unde
my bed. No other animal, as knew
perfectly we'll, would be bold enough
to come right into my hut in this man
ner. Now, every one will ask wha
were my feelings in this dreadful sit
uation. Though perfectly conscious
of everythin that was going on, wa
unable to utter sound. Ny hear
beat as though it would burst, and it
tremendous throbbings almost suffo
Gated me. was almost fainting will
terror at the thought of so dreadful
fate. After a moment or twoI becam
aware that the tiger had got from un
der the bed and was shifting his wa,
along the edge. perhaps a little puz
zled by the mosquito curtains. Ithel
seemed to realize that must do some
thing. and instinctively, yet as noise