The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-03

merely stroke his head when he got a little tipsy and in a jiffy he was perfect Iy cool and sober again. Finally. one night I stod behind him and discovered his secfet.
 During the Turkish war splinter Of shrapnel had taken off a piece of his skull. This wound had been covered with silver plate, which the shrewd old soldier had caused to be so arranged on hinges that he could raise it at times. This enabled him to let all the alcoholic vapors escape whenever he felt them getting the better of him.
 "On my way home one night from one of these little drinking bouts I met a bear. These creatures used to stroll about St. Petersburg somewhat freely. I was totally unarmed; but with quick determination seized him by the throat and held him firmly until he froze to death.
 ''It was cold that winter in St. Peters, burg, and in Russia generally. One day we were travelling with a postilion and we commented on the fact that he did not beguile the way as most of his class do, by playing sweet tunes on his horn What an injustice we did the poor fel- low! That evening when we alghted at a tavern everybody crowded around the huge stove. The position hung his horn up on the wall. Suddenly it began to play. Tune after tune came out of it. All the famous melodies poured forth with delightful pathos, hour after hour. They were the tunes that the position had tried to play during the day, but without producing a sound because the frightful cold froze all the notes before they could come out
 ''Of course you never have experi- enced such a cold in this country. There fore you cannot realize what Russian winter means, winter when the weather gets so cold that 1t is impossible to light a candle because the wax freezes imme- diately under the burning wick
 That is a trihe otherwise that the weather we experienced in Ceylon, where I went hunting with the gover- nor. I wore a coat with leaden buttons, and it happened often that the heat was so intense that one or more buttons would melt during the day.
 By the way, one afternoon in the jun gle I heard a rustlng behind me and there crouched a huge lion, just pre- pairing to leapi I must confess to my shame that I lost my presence of mind and fired a charge of bird shot at him, 6 most foolish proceeding It only en- ragged him, and I wheeled around to run. cold chill went over me, for I turned only to find myself face to faGe with an immense crocodile that had al ready spread it's horrible jaws to their fullest extent to gulp me down!
 T am sure that Hercules himself would have done what did in this terrible pre- dicament. I sank to the ground stunned with terror. The next instant I heard a loud crash and lifted my head. In his fury the lion had jumped over me and clean into the open jaws of the reptilel
 ''It was the work of an instant to leap to my feet and hack the great cats head off with my hunting knife Hardly had the body fallen at my feet before I seized my gun and forced the head down into the crocodile's gullet till it choked to death.
 ''When the rest of the party arrived there was some astonishment at the double bag. We measured the crocodile on the spot and found that it was exact ly 40 feet 2 inches long, It is now a prized possession of the great museum in Amsterdam, but never go there because the shameful liar who has charge of the exhibits is in the habit of telling stran- gers that the lion leaped clear through the reptile before I could kill him. To embellish an adventure thus untruthfully is highly offensive to me.
 q can tell you that great load fell from my heart when I saw both brutes dead at my feet. By the way, can show you that load some day. I picked it up as it fell and have it in my collection It is a red. white and blue stone and weighs thirty-two pounds.
 "I quite forgot to tell you that on my way to Ceylon we stopped at an island ent from any had seen before. It tore up trees of enormous bulk by the roots, and though they weighed many tons they were carried so high by the wind that they appeared like feathers floating in the air. As soon as the storm subsided they all fell perpendicularly into their respective places and took root again. said all That is not precisely true. When the largest tree was blown into the air 1t happened to have on it an old man and his wife, who were gathering cu- cumbers. (That honest vegetable grows on trees there. The weight of this cou- pie overbalanced the tree when it des- cended and brought it down out of po- sition.
 Tt struck the headman of the island and killed him on the spot. He had run from his honse when the storm began and was just returning through his own gate when this fortunate accident hap pehed.
 'I say fortunate.' This requires some explanation. The chief was an avari- cious, oppressive, infamous tyrant. He had plundered the natives, and they were starving. while the goods that he had taken from them were rotting in his stores. The grateful people chose the two cucumber gatherers to govern them as a mark of their esteem for having destroyed the tyrant
 However, we were speaking of heat. I call to mind an incident which will serve to suggest what real heat can be like. It was when I was in Turkey. An American named Smith arrived in Con stantinople one day in balloon in which he had started from New York five days before, thus making a fairly quick pas saage. He invited me to take an ascen- sion with him. We took with Us only