Hattiesburg daily progress. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 18??-1909, 1903-12-02
"A HERITACE a.. >
OF FEAR -.

4
J rounded by a herd of excited cattle
brandishing their horns and PAWN:
the ground and each other in their eff
forts to reach the stump.
Then it dawned upon US that We
were on the salt lick for the herd. ant
the cattle by dozens, as we saw them
and by hundreds as they would soor
gather, would be trampIing us down in
their efforts to get the salt always
found on the stump when that halloc
was given. Suddenly a shot near by
brought down a great horned brute
and the others halted and closed in
about it, snorting and paving the
ground at sight of the blood. Roy had
tainted and fallen off the stump, when
strange, brown, red-hooded woman
made her way to US, and, taking him
in her arms, ordered me to follow.
at was weeks before Royal was him.
| self again. AS he grew stronger phys
ically he seemed partially to outgrow
his inherited terror. Once, years after,
when he mentioned the matter to me,
he said, bitterly; It's worse than any
physical infirmity, or even insanity.
| for it's both-and yet the world will
never call it anything but cowardicev
Somehow it all came back TO me that
morning on the mountainside, with a
sort of paralyzing horror After a mo-
ment, however, 1 got my grip again,
and put the thing from me as l would
a nightmare. 1t was certainly out of
place at such time-they were so ra-
them laughing like children and see
Sweethearts scarlet cap, not a dozen
yards away. through the bare frosty
branches. There was a charcoal clear
ing little further up, where the thick,
stunted underground about its edges
was dense with the piles of Topped
branches, and Sweetheart started
game of hide and seek
mo one remembered very clearly
afterward just how it happened; 1
didn't get upon the scene until just in
time for the appalling climax, but at
the edge of the clearing man rushed
past Royal, calling:
'Climb-the lions looser
His daft terror was infectious. Roy's
old fear swept everything before it,
and he rushed blindly across the open
ing, plunging madly over Instructions
and past trees that would have proved
safe enough refuge, forgetting, in the
insanity of the moment. Sweetheart
everything, until on the far edge of the
clearing he came face to face with the
girl, paralyZed before the lion, crouch
ing, lashing its tail to spring. 1t was
then that l, all unconscious of the SEN
sation. and unconcernedly rafting the
nuts in my pocket, sauntered up-in
time to see Roy's face blanch and
violent tremOr shake his whole frame
Then he coolly stepped between the
girl and the furious beast, and stood
there, his eyes on the balls Of green
fire that flashed from the great, tawny
head. 1t seemed ages-it could scarce
ly have been seconds-no one of the
four of us moved a muscle-till the
lion, with a cry that was like howl
and a sob, turned and skunk off into
the thick underbrush higher up the
mountain.
"Then we both rushed to Royal. who
still had not stirred. Sweetheart put
her little arms about his neck and said
all the things a woman would say at
time like that. Still he did not move,
and there was something in his eyes
that chilled my marrow. Sweetheart
was frightened, too, when he would
not speak to her. After a moment he
turned and went with us down the
mountain. We two talked at intervals,
and Sweetheart spoke to him. but still
no word passed his white lips. The
girl insisted we should go to her cot
tage, and there her mother at last per-
suaded Royal to go to bed, physician
was called. and after days of. anxiety
and consultation, the poor boy raving
in delirium, it was pronounced brain
fever. His life and ultimate sanity in
any case were despaired of. The Cali
fornia trip. of course, was given up.
and Sweetheart's mother nursed the
boy as if he had been her own. told
her of his terrible heritage and the
gypsy incident, and she understood, as
a woman might. what vital crisis in
his life his love for her daughter had
proved. Afterward we learned that
the lioness, who had been almost I'M
manageable since the death of her old
keeper, q giant Swede, of whom she
was very fond had become frantic on
the death of one of her whelpS and
broken from the battered cage. already
locked for repairs. attacked the new
keeper and fed to the woods. Sire had
not eaten during the whelp's Illness
and must have been ravenous when
she saw Sweetheart. Whether she
thought Royal was her old master, or
whether his superhuman sang froid |
cowed the brute in her, or whether,
who knows, the love that conquered
hunger met the love that could con-
quer fear-'Jove nodded to Jove' over
the shoulder of a nan and his brother
beast-we specialized endlessly in whis-
pers during those weeks Royals life
hung in the balance.
Zone night the doctor had called for
a second time. III stay with him al
little WHILE he had said. Sweetheart
and l sat together before the library |
fire-her mother and the nurse were |
resting. There had been something |
unusual in the doctors manner. Pres |
entity he beckoned to us from the door |
way.
"'He is conscious at last he said, |
a nd tears of relief SHI.lIng TO Sweet