Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-05-29

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military arms instead Of The Gu
EIwHY HAT kind of sport did you
w. have out there?' is the
question with which men.
have, as a rule. greeted M on
return from the campaign in Rhode
STA; and one could truthfully say,
I'VE had excellent sport am about
to tell of facing lions with a small
caliber military rife, an adventure to
thrill army sportsman.
InSthe first place, scouting played a
very prominent part in the prelimln-
aries to major operations.
This scouting, to be successful, ne
cessitated ones going With the very
%slenderest escort-frequently with.
one man only. to look after the horses,
and for long distances away from our
main body, into the districts occupied
by the enemy and by big game. Thus.
one was thrown entirely on ones own
resources, with the stimulating knowl-
edge that if he did not maintain a suf-
dcient a%lertness of observation and
action, he stood a very good chance,
indeed. not only of failing to gain in
formation which yon We're desired to
seek, but also of getting himself wiped
out, and left in stress on the veldt.
"Spooring,' or tracking, was our
main source of guidance and informal
ton and night the cover under which
we were able to make IL way about
the enemy's country with impunity.
The pleasures of the pursuit of
game were all the more enhanced by
the knowledge that the meat was
really necessary to us, and especially
| by the fact that we often carried out
our sport at the risk of being our
selves the quarry Of some sneaking
band of rebel warriors.
Dangers OF Camping in the Lion
Country.
Moreover. to all our fun a seasoning
was added in the shape of lions, whose
presence or propinquity was very fire..
quently impressed upon us at nights
by deep-toned grunts or ghostly ap
partitions within the halo of our watch
fires. In defiance of the rules of wa1
which forbid the use of fires by
night, as guiding an enemy's night at
tack-we had a ring of bright fires
burning round our bivouac to scare
away the lions. frequently u sen
tries fired upon them as they kept g
waiting watch, prowling from point
to point outside u line of men.
BY day we saw them, too. One pa
troll, indeed, came upon a group OF
nine lying doing in the bush; and
when the nine ros and yawned and
stretched their massive jaws and
limbs, the patrol, remembering the
old maxim concerning the relations
between discretion and valor
changed the curse of their advance
and took another line.
One time, when / was patrolline
the bank of the Shangani river with
three men, the massive form of 8
lion was zen slowly moving over the
boulders of the river-bed. The cor
poral and | jumped off Il horses in
a moment, and fired a volley a deux
at about 1870 yards. One shot thudded
into him, the other striking the
ground just under his belly. IIe
sprang with a light bound over q
rock and disappeared from our view
Posting one man on a high point on
the bank to watch the river-bed
and leaving the other in charge Of
our horses, the corporal and | made
our way down to where we had lasI
seen the lion. We were armed with
Lee-Metford carbines and we turned
en- our magazines in order to have &
good running fire available should oul
quarry demand it,
Meantime our main body, coming
along the opposite bank of the river
had seen our maneuver, and an Off
Ger and one man had come down into
the riverbed from their side to help us
Gradually and cautiously we sur
rounded the spot where WI guessed
the lion to be-cautiously, at least
as far as three of us were concerned;
the fourth, the man who had come
from the main body, was moving in
far freer and more confident manner
than any of us could boast; he clam
bered over the rocks and sprang with
agility into the most likely corners
for finding a wounded lion lying am
pushed. and his sole weapon was his
~revolver--for he was a farrier. Such
is Tommy Atkins whether it is the
outcome of sheer pluck, or Of ignor
ance, or of both combined, the faci
remains that he will sail gayly In
where danger lies, and as often as moi
sail gaylH out again unframed.
However, TO continue; at last we
were on the spot. but no lion was
there-an occasional splash of blood
and here and there, where sand lay
between the rocks. the impress OF a
mighty paw showed that he had moved
away after being hit, But soon all
traces ceased, and though we searched
for long we could find no other sign
of him.
OutWitted by the Jungle King
We halted on the river-bank daring
the intense heat OF the day, and be