The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-03-02

it, in a very different part of the world.
 Instead of the flowing river and forest growth of South America, the scene is
 the vast sandy belt of Kalahari Desert,
 waterless almost, and except for clumps
 of mimosas and cameeldorns, treeless.
 Even in the more favored districts in
 the east and south all but the larger
 rivers dry up, except i'll the rainy sea-
 son. But there is game; game of the
 larger and rarer kind, and what won't
 the genuine hunter undergo to obtain
 trophies? Genuine hunters! What a.
 difference between these and the men
 who go about slaughtering until the ho-
 locast mounts up to hundreds, yes
 thousands of heads, under the plea of
 supplying the starving natives, with
 food! Doubtless this is sometimes the
 case, but thousands and thousands of
 carcasses are left for the vultures and
 hyenas, just for the sake of what the
 heads and skins will bring. Let us be
 thankful a reaction has set in. and that, be man ever so poor or ever so rich,
 he will incur the odium OF all right
 thinking people and feel the effects of
 the law, too, if he transgresses.
 Well, the roar of the lions had kept the animals on the hustle all night long; it was too dark to see anything,
 and nothing happened in the way of
 breaking into the skerm, for we had
 taken extra precautions to protect the
 cattle The wagon was in the banks of
 the Molono river, opposite the Matlapin,
 some hundred miles west of Mafeking.
 There was game sufficient to supply us l
 as it was light enough I went out to
 see what sign the lions had left. From
 the noise and meditation of the roaring one would have thought that there
 might have been half 9 dozen visitors,
 but there were only two, and these had
 gone up in a northwesterly direction. Getting a nasty breakfast, I went out to
 spoor them. taking one of my Kaffir
 boys along to carry my spare rife.
 The ground was stony, but we man
 aged to keep along, and, seeing a like ly looking clump of thorns quarter of
 a mile ahead we thought it might hold
 the desired quarry and proceeded ac- cordingly. The dogs, however, went through the cover without whimper, and we turned off again toward the west to another clump of thorns near CT the river But before we had | reached it, and before the dogs had ! been sent in Bob. the Kaff1r, pulled me ! by the skirt, and at the same moment I | caught sight of two lions quietly sneak ! ing out of the clump. I instantly fired i at the foremost one, but l must have [ shot over him, for he turned at the re- r port and looked at me unharmed; the { other lion also stopped. A splendid | sight. these two lions, but I had no time to waste, and, aiming lower this time, I had the satisfaction of hearing the thud. On receiving the heavy bullet he stumbled, and having snatched the oth- CT rifle from Bob I gave him another shot as he recovered himself but as this did not show it's effect, l let him have the third bullet. which caught him in the head and finished him.
 The other lion had meanwhile slunk lack to cover. Loading both rifles with all haste. I took a little time to rest and then sent the dogs. which had stayed well by us during the shooting, into the clump of ,thorns. Although they worried him, to judge by the row, he did not seem inclined to show him self, neither could I get q glimpse of him. There was a small ravine leading from the thorn bushes down towards the river, and I thought it likely it would be the way he would attempt to sink out. Telling Bob to keep look out, I went down the ravine a little way, and was figuring on seeing him come along, when l heard a roar and a scream, and, rushing back, saw the lion on top of Bob. l dared not shoot, but kept right on, and when near enough to risk it--for he lay so close on his vic- tim as to make it hard thing to shoot clear of the latter--T fired, and with roar the lion turned upon me. I stood still, with my rifle lowered to 1 my hip, and, as the animal charged, { made lucky raking shot which dropped him in his tracks. I think oan see his vicious eyes and open mouth now, as he went down within a { lew yards of me. I knew very we'll f what 1t meant if I failed to check him, ! Tor my rifle was empty and the other | fife lay under Bob. But luck was with g ne, and seeipg that the lion did not re- over I rushed to the prostrate Kafiir, c vho was just regaining consciousness, c md got hold of the rifle. all the while I ieeping my eye on the dying lion. I c ,ould see by this time that all danger | vas passed and could with safety to us h 10th turn my attention to my poor aithful boy He was pretty badly I cratched about the shoulders and his S ight forearm was bleeding freely from t, he holes made by the lions teeth, but T therwise he appeared more scared g han hurt. l had to stop the bleeding fl omehow, however, so I just took off II ny shirt and tore it up into bandages s1 ,ith which I bound up the deepest " and he was able to walk back ) the wagon. I was glad to get back, o1 90, for my shoulders and back were Ii are and did not stand the seorchine Il avs of the sun like a natives. A a .afIir is pretty tough any way. but one SC f the fang wounds needed stitching up. of t-----------~- --------------------