The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-12

lighted for us, and we continued to tell
 yarns to one another until nearly ten
 o'clock. This gossip in front of the
 camp fire in the open air was our regu-
 lar custom on fine nights. At this time
 the season was drawing to close, and
 the weather was not quite so warm as
 1t had been. At a little after ten
 o'clock l began to yawn, so rose to my
 feet and tried to peer out into the ex-
 traordinary dense darkness of the
 night, I said ood-night to my compan-
 ion, and we each went off to our respec-
 tive huts, intending to go to bed with
 out further delay, l was not sleepy i however, and after getting into bed l
 commenced to read. I gradually dozed
 off and lost consciousness. The next
 thing l remember was waking up sud-
 denly at about midnight ana listening
 to the doleful howlings of the hyenas
 that surrounded the camp. The silence
 of the nght was strangely oppressive
 so much so, in fact, that I thought of
 going across to MorkePs hut and asking
 him to come out and have a shot with
 me. I changed my mind, however, as
 he was not keen sportsman, and went
 noiselessly over to my hut, when I fast
 ened up the door again, and then
 slipped into bed.
 I couldn't have been there long be- | fore l fell into that sound sleep from
 which l was to have such a ghastly | awakening. It was-as near as possi- | ble-tWo o'clock in the mirning when | suddenly became conscious of some
 thing moving backward and up and down underneath my bed. Just as
 consciousness was growing clearer and
 stronger, loud, long and indescriba-
 ble sniff, sniff broke the stiffness of the
 night, Though my experience of Afri
 ca was not extensive, I instantly req lized that my death was at hand, and
 that eating lion was under my
 bed. No other animal as I knew per | fectly we'll, would be bold enough to
 come right into my hut in this manner. Now, every one will ask what were my 1 feelings in this dreadful situation. | Though perfectly conscious of every thing that was going on, was unable
 to utter a sound. My heart beat as | though it would burst, and it's tremen- dous throbbings almost suffocated me. was almost fainting with terror at the | thought of so dreadful a fate. After a
 moment or two I became aware that | the lion had got from under the bed, and was sniffing his way along the
 edge, perhaps a little puzzled by the | mosquito curtains. I then seemed to
 realize that I must do something, and | instinctively, yet as noiselessly as pos | sible, I huddled all the pillows and bed-
 clothes up over my head and face, actu-
 ated by the same instant, perhaps, which prompts little boys and girls to
 dive under the bedclothes when afraid | of the bogeyman.
 | No sooner had I done this than the lion, with horrible purr, purr, grabbed ! me by the right shoulder and dragged
 me out on the floor, bedcIothes and all. | The brute immediately commenced to suck the blood that streamed down my
 neck and chest and every time I moved he bit them more savagely; as I raised
 my knees to get into a crouching, pro- | tective position, he gave me a little pat
 with his paws which nearly broke my l leg, and inflicted a dreadful wound. | After a moment or two of awful eXpe- rience on the floor of the hut the mons l ter dropped me out of his mouth, placed one proud and massive paw on my
 chest, and then, throwing back his mo- ble head, gave one, two, three, four ter rife roars of triumph and defiance As | these mighty, reverberating sounds | died away in deep, hoarse growls I
 could hear the devils own uproar out- 1 side. The niggers were firing off their guns like mad-the wonder is they nev- CT killed each other.
 1 It seems that Morkel was awakened at the first roar, and without mo-
 ment's delay he got out of bed, put on his trousers and hat, and then sallied 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 ratehr felt his way, over to my | hut, doubtless wondering why I had | not come out to meet him. He was l guided partly by the excited cries of the
 Kaffirs, 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 sake!' I heard l him, as, indeed, had heard everything | else, but was absolutely unable to ut ] ter sound, though I was fully aware that my life depended upon it. Morlxel l must have worked around my hut and
 seen the hole made by the lion, which 1 simply pushed the poles on one side, and then tore out the mat walls and crawled in under my bed. Then, of course, poor Dan realized what had l happened, and he ran around to the other side and kicked the door down. | All this time the only think seemed 1 to take an interest in was the loud, | slipping such, such made by the lion as l he drew my life blood into his reeking | jaws. I could not realize the full hor- | TOT of the thing. I had been lying on my back on the floor of the hut with
 my neck and head resting against the ] side when Morkel kicked in the door. | As he did so the lion drove his terrible | fangs into my right groin, and next
 moment, with another loud pur-r, he l 1eaped out of the hut into the darkness almost into MorkePs face
 You may imagine Dan Morkers feel
 ings as he groped around in the inky darkness screaming out first to one nisger and then to another to bring lighted punches of grass for Gods
 sake. He found his way into my hut,
 and on feeling in the bed he placed his hand on a large pool of blood, which
 gave unmistakable information as to 1 what had happened. The lion ran across the clearing with me for about