St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1909-06-05

#&t B& -
Two Of my men got badly mauied by
q lion, ia our camp had 70 stop where
1t was till they could be moved. After
q time one of them was able to walk
about with his arm in q sling, and the
other wal getting on well, so n night
/ decided to leave the big camp next
day and go with two or three cameIs
to some villages only 9 days march
away. EARLY the next morning Ma
homed Moor, the headman, started
with the camels. ! stopped behind to
get some breakfast. Just as we were
going to follow, q camelman, who had
gone up the river-bed close by to get
some water, came running back to say
that 3 lion had been down 20 drink
at one OF the shallow sand wells in the
night. I started at once with Abdul
lab and two other crackers, telling my
pony.boy to follow on as soon as he
could get the pony sasd.ed. When
tracking. l have always found 1t the
best plan to have the pony led ONE
distance behind. The boy ought to
have no difficulty In following the
tracks of two or three men and a
lion, and If the pony is kept close
up, 1t is sure to stamp or blow its
nose at the critical moment.
When we got to the wen there was
the spoor plain enough In the sand,
but rather blurred by some rain which
had fallen at daybreak. This made
the tracking a little difficult after we
left the river-bed, but when we had
followed it slowly for some distance,
we came to q place where the lion had
lain down under a thick bush, evil
IDENTIFY to shelter from the rain, IL the
spoor after this was quiet distinct on
the top Of the damp ground. This
made us think we were in for a short
track, for it must have been light
when the lion went on again from
here, and lions generally lie up short
" after the sun rises; but this day
proved an exception. because It was
cloudy and cool through the forenoon.
Trailing The King Of Beasts.
The spoor now led US along 4 sandy
Path. where We could follow 1t al fast
Is We could walk. When Il turned on
into the bush We quite expected to see
the lion Ut any moment; but not a bit
Of it-he wandered about through
endless cIumps Of mimosa ard 'irgin"
bushes, as IL be did not mean to lie
up at al.
The track at last ed US down a
little sandy ~watercparse, which it fol-
lowed for some distance. Up to this
time we had had nc real di1hcuIty
In making It out, but now came our
arst serious check. The nullah turned
OF along the side Of Z stony ridge.
and, instead OF going along II, the
lion had turned up the hill. We had
got the general direction thu the Hon
mad been going in, but this was no
good 20 us, as on casting forward In
the same line to the bottom OF the
other side Of the ridge where there
was SEINE sandy ground, we could ind
no aign az bis having passed In that
asPeet1cn. we spent some time hunt
Las about, growing less hopeful as
time went on. A man following q
trail by sight certainly has an enor-
nous advantage over q hound hunting
1t BY nose, because time Is Of no
particular object to him, and every
direction can be tried Ia turn. After
making out cast forward we went
back to the little water-course, and
followed that down for some distance,
hoping that tbs lion had turned down
hill again; but here, too, ne were dis.
appointed. and grayitated back 10
where We had first lost the Bpoor. We
knew that the Hon had not gone
straight on. nor had he turned back;
he must have gone along the top OF
the ridge and then crossed into other
stony hills where is was hopeless to
try to track him.
Abdullah, who u eve defeated,
said there WIS q big river-bed further
on Id the direction In which the lien
was going. It seemed a very slender
chance, as he might hare turned OF
anywhere In between, but Ii was the
only one, so OF We went. We were
evidently in luck thst day. for we had
only gone abont 4 quarter Of b mills
Il wa tie spoor. The lion