The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-03-18
THREE LIONS AND A MAN.

THREE LIONS AND A MAN.
 How Bicycle Helped to Save the Flu gitive's Life.
 It falls to the lot of but few men tt come so near to violent death and ye
 escape, unharmed as was the case witt
 J. A. Smith, who has been working as
 mechanical engineer at the Inez
 Having finished the work for which ht
 had been engaged, he left the Inez, in
 tending to cycle into Salisbury stop
 ping for a couple of days at the Great
 Bear. He left the latter place for Cad
 zima, travelling along the line of rail- way extension. On reaching the spot
 where the line crosses the Umfuli river he found. as the bridge is not yet erect l ed, that he would have to go round by
 the deviation and cross at the railway drift. This necessitated wading through i the river and carrying the bicycle. On
 reaching the level again he put his ma
 chine down in order to resume his boots and socks, and, feeling rather fatigued
 after his. exertions stayed for a brief
 rest. While enjoying the rest his at tention was drawn by troop of very
 fine sable-two magnificent bulls and
 three cows-making their way up from
 the other side of the river in the direc-
 tion of fringe of forest beyond. Feel
 ing sufficiently refreshed, he picked up
 his machine preparatory to starting again fer Gadzima. which he wished to
 reach before 1t became dark. The next
 moment MT. Smith received shock
 which he will not forget for many a long day. About fifty yards away, and slightly to his right, were three lions, so intent on stalking the sable that they were not looking in his direction!
 It was an awkward position, to say the least, and for brief space he stood like one petrified, but, although his limbs for a moment were numb, his mind was active enough. The largest of the three was huge black maned lion, the second was a lioness, while the third was af1 almost full grown cub. The latter was the first to observe MT. Smith, and, uttering low grow, made for the unhappy man, who, dropping his bicycle, stayed not on the order of his going, but went for a friendly tree at top speed. He had just time to notice that the parent lions had started in the wake of their young hopeful, the sight as may be imagined, only serving to ac- celerate his pace. The tree was but a short distance away but to the hunted it appeared a mile, expecting every sec ond to be struck down. It was desti- ute of branches for about ten feet up, and how he managed to climb 1t at all will forever remain mystery to him. Just as he thought himself safe, how ever there was terrific roar behind him, and he had an uncanny feeling that he was being dragged off the tree. The lion, outstripping his mate in the chase had made his spring, missing his quarry by a few inches only. Even as it was his claws tore away the greater part of MT. Smiths trousers and inflict- ed several fairly deep scratches--a mar row escape indeed. Exhausted and panting, trembling in every limb, with the precipitation streaming out of him, he managed to draw himself up into security, and here for nearly an hour he remained in this dreadful position, while the baffled lion, now joined by the lioness, ragged below, every now and again making frantic springs, when their fetid breath came 50 unpleasantly near as to almost bring on nausea. The tree, it should be men, toned, was small maponda, about 1 eighteen feet high.
 At first MT. Smith could not under stand what had become of the young ion. which went for him first, and but | 'or the fact that he was not in a posi- | ion to appreciate the humor of the | hing, he witnessed a sight which must | lave been comical in the extreme, al- hough to it alone, he is firmly convinc- d, his life was due. It seems that Leo unior stopped half way to examine the ,icycle which had been flung down hastily, with the result that the front wheel was still revolving. This arrested he young Hons attention, and like a hild with a new toy, he turned aside to xanine this curious phenomenon. Cau- iously giving it a pat with one of his uge paws, which only made it go round aster, his wonder increased, and he sat own on his h&unches, regarding 1t with i
 puzzled air, and not for some time did e join the parent couple at the foot of he tree but not until he had ''mouthed" he machine considerably and twisted he handlebar During the tenure of is unpleasant perch MT. Smith cast lany wistful glances in the direction his double-barrelled gun, which was trapped to his bicycle, but it might as ell have been a hundred miles away. [e cast his eyes about in order to dis over some place of retreat as soon as le lions should retire, and, to his great ", saw hut some three hundred ards away. Just before dark his cap- ITS began to pay less attention to him,