davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1909-05-07

point one could easily command the
whole of it, The lion was almost GER
tain to break out of one of the sides
river-bed, in which case l should get
an easy broadside shot. If = fol-
lowed the track into the place, the
noise we were sure to make would be
very likely to get the beast on his
legs, and he would sneak out at one
side as we went in at the other, es-
pecially as the water had left lot of
dead sticks along the edges, over
which 1t would be impossible to walk
quietly Abdullah also said that from
the way he had wandered about this
lion must be very hungry, and would
sleep lightly. These considerations
decided us to drive. / posted myself
with Abdullah few yards out from
the point, and the other two men, hav-
ing collected some stones, began throw
ing them in at the far end. Abdullah
lightly; for at the first stone there
was q growl and crash in the bushes
and then, for a minute or two, not a
sound. The men started to walk down,
one on each side, shooting and throw
ing in stones. l was watching them, and
wondering what had happened to the
lion, when there was faint cracking
just in front of us, and he appeared at
the point of the island. Although we
were standing within a few yards of
him, and absolutely In the open, he
did not see us.
He was facing straight towards us,
and was so close that l did not like
to fire at him as. on receiving the bull
let, he would be very likely to plunge
In the direction he was going and be
into us; nor did want him to come
any closer; so, as he stepped down on
to the sand, l moved my rifio up
towards my shoulder to attract his at
tention. He saw the movement al
once, stopped dead, and turned his
head sharply towards us. For the
fraction of second | thought he was
going to be startled into charging
but he plunged off to the left with an
angry snarl at us over his shoulder
AS he passed pulled. and he skated
along on his stomach and fell down 9
little ledge in the sand. This slewet
him round, and he lay facing us
spread-eagled on the sand, evidently
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1909-05-07

| shot, but so badly that | wasted
seven bullets at different ranges
without touching her. The first six
did not seem to annoy her at all, but
the last hit the ground just under her
teeth, and either the bullet so close,
frightened her or a stone hit her, for
she sprang off with snarl and a
flourish of her tail and, putting on the
pace, in minute or two ran clean
away from us. l was terribly disap-
pointed and annoyed with myself, and
thought of course, that everything
was over for the day after all this
shooting; but Abdullah, who was al
most weeping, hardly gave me time
to get my wind a little before he
rushed me back again. AS we ran
round the place where we had first
seen the lioness, fine lion appeared
walking slowly out of another thicket
towards us. AS l shot, he turned
and plunged thorugh an opening in the
bushes to our right. We ran round an
outstanding bush to head him If he
broke out, and met lion facing us. Just
as fired heard moan to the right,
so was sure it was not the same lion.
This one staggered away at the shot
and fell stone dead close by.
Death of the Jungle Lord.
Abdullah called up jana and the
pony boy, and they soon had the hide
off and tied on the pony. / thought
all the time that Abdullah knew all
about the other one, but as he seemed
to be going right home, l asked him If
we had not better go and look for it,
and he replied that 1t was the same
lion all the time, and that l had
missed it the first shot. did not feel
quite sure about it myself, but the
moan in the bushes could only have
come from a wounded beast, so told
him we had better go and look any
way. He evidently thought it was
waste of time, but when we got back
to where the lion had been hit we
soon found some blood, and going
quietly down little path between the
"irgin" bushes we came round a cor
ner almost on top of the lion. He was
stone dead. was very pleased at
scoring off Abdullah, as he had shown
such evident disgust at my shooting.
We met one OF our party on our way
back to camp, and told him he might
run across the lioness IL he followed
our track back to the place We had
come from. An hour after we got
back to camp he came galloping up,
having seen two lions. curiously
enough both males, and had shot one
with better name than either of
mine.
have at another time described
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1909-05-07

hill again; but here, VOC, we we're dis
where we had first lost the spoor. We
knew that the lion 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 Is never defeated,
said there was big river-bed further
on in the direction in which the lion
was going. 1t seemed a very slender
chance, as he might have turned off
anywhere in between, but 1t was the
only one, so off we went. We were
evidently in luck that day, for we had
only gone about quarter of mile
when we struck the spoor The lion
seemed now to have made up his
mind as to his direction, for he kept
on straight down the middle of the
river-bed. The sun had come out from
behind the clouds, and in places the
sand was very deep, so that we were
not sorry when at last the track led
into a little island of bush in the
great fiat sand. There was no doubt
the lion was at home, for on casting
round no sign was perceptible of a
track coming out. The island, raised
little above the river-bed, was
formed of mass of thick-tangled
bush and creepers clustered round a
few big trees. The water coming down
the river after heavy rain had washed
it roughly into the form of triangle,
the apex of which pointed up the
river. From this point the sides
widened out to the other end, which
was about thirty yards broad. the
whole length being somewhat under
a hundred yards.
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1909-05-07

We had a shot or two at the sound,
and the beasts, whatever they were,
went away. AS at that time we knew
nothing about lions, we were not
quite sure that they were not hyenas
after all; but Abdullah stuck to it
they were lions, so we got our beds
and lay down one on each side of the
opening, just behind the fence to
watch, hoping that the brutes would
come back. Nothing further happened,
however. At daybreak we sailed out
to see If by any chance we had man
aged to hit a lion, but we only found
two or three dead hyenas. One of
these brutes had been partly eaten;
we thought at the time by other hy-
enas, as it was still too dark to make
out tracks. We came to the conclu-
sion we had made idiots of ourselves,
and had been shooting all night at
hyenas. and we did not feel any the
better when our friends came back
from their night at the village and
told us we had probably frightened
every lion out of the country by our
bombardment.
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1909-05-07

side, and it was evident that some
thing was attacking our donkeys. 1t
was pitch dark, and we fired several
shots in the direction of the sound
before we discovered that the attack
mind having a donkey killed instan-
taneously by lion, but we had not
bargained for the poor beasts getting
mauled by hyenas, SO taking lamp
we went out to see what had hap
pened.' My donkey had got off with
a nasty bite in the hollow of the hind
leg above the hook, and we had him
taken into the camp at once. The
other was completely disembowelled
and must have been killed instantly.
We could not find any dead hyenas,
but we were pretty sure that on, or
two must have been hit. Seeing that
il the lions did come to the dead dom
key there would not be much chance
of hitting them on so dark night,
we pulled the carcass right under the
skerm or fence round the camp, and,
to prevent hyenas dragging 1t away,
tied a rope to one of its legs, and
passing 1t over the fence. fastened it
to a heavy water barrel inside the
camp. We sat up for a bit ald got
few shots at hyenas, and then we
went to bed. telling the sentry to keep
a sharp lookout and to let us know If
lions came to the carcass.
Some time after l awoke to find
Abdullah bending over me, with my
rifle In his hand. He was frightfully
excited, and all l could get out of him
was "Libah. sahib, libah!" C'Llon, sir,
lion!') Jumping up rushed out just
as my companion fired two shots into
the darkness. The first thing saw
when I got to where he stood was that
great piece of the skerm round the
camp had disappeared, leaving q
broad gap. could not for moment
think what had happened, and then II
struck me that when the carcase had
been dragged away the water barrel
must have got hitched against the
inside of the interlacod mimosa
boughs and the whole lot had gone to
gether. 1t was frightfully dark out
side. and we stood peering out fol
some time without being able to dis
tinguish anything; but after few
minutes We could hear something
tearing at the flesh quite close by
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1909-05-07

to follow 1t. At that time none of us
knew much about tracking, and we
had had such bad luck after the ele-
plants that we did not think much
of our shikaries, and l did not think
1t was much good, Abdullah persuaded
me and / went. After we mad followed
the track for some distance | quite
caught his enthusiasm, and when the
single track was Joined by three 9TH
ers, 1 was divided between delight at
the prospect of having four lions all
to myself and the thought that per-
haps l had more on my hands than
could manage alone.
After track of about an hour we
came in sight of two or three big
thickets of "irgin" bushes surrounded
by open mimosa scrub ana intersected
by narrow paths My second shikari
at that time was a very tall fellow,
called jana, with enormous feet. Sew
eral times during the track Abdullah
had turned round to pitch into him for
making such noise, and now he con-
| fided to me that "Jama walk all same
! cow" and that we had better leave
him behind here with the pony and
boy, as the lions were sure to be in
the place in front of us. Knowing
nothing about it, agreed and went
on with Abdullah We were walking
quietly along the outside of one of the
thickets when Abdullah suddenly
clutched me by the arm and pointed
towards a tree standing on the edge
of the bush yards off. The tree was
divided into two towards the bottom
and the sun was throwing the shadow
of bush on the ground inside the
hollow.
This was where Abdullah was point
Ing. getting more excited but could
make out nothing at all, until great
yellow beast moved suddenly out OF
the shadow and slipped away ON the
far side. fired from the hip, letting
off both barrels into the tree. We
rushed round to the other side of the
thicket just in time to see fine
lioness come out. could not get 8
clear shot at once. and when did
after running some distance, / was
shaking so that could not get on hel
at all, and missed. She kept lobbinl
along just ahead. every now and theI
stopping TO look around and show hel
teeth at US. Each time she stopped
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1909-05-07

two different methods of hunting lions.
One of them could hardly be called
a method at all, as 1t depended on
news brought in by natives as to
where lion had actually been seen.
The second plan consisted of tying
up donkey for bait, and sitting up
to watch at night. A much more in
teresting way of hunting lions than
either of these and a very success
full one If the native shikaries EN-.
ployed are any good, is this process
Of tracking them. A lion lies up in
some cool, shady place for the day,
unless the sky is overcast and the
sun cannot get out, when he will oc-
casionally be found hunting at any
hour. If you can strike his spoor of
the night before there is a very good
chance Of following it up to where
the lion lies, should the ground be
suitable. There is no form of hunt.
ing so exciting as this. When the
spoor is found there is generally
nothing to show If you have struck
1t early or late In the lions wander
ings, so that 1t is quite a chance
whether 1t leads you for hours over all
sorts of country, or whether, after half
mile down on sandy river bed or
path, 1t turns off into a ,hick patch
of reeds or bush close by, where the
lion is lying. 1t is extraordinary how
the excitement grows as time goes on,
and still you keep the track some.
times very slowly. where only now
and then part of a footprint can be
seen on a soft place between the
stones, at other times as fast as you
can walk over soil where the track
is visible many yards ahead. And
when the spoor Is lost and minute
after minute goes by while you cast
about vainly In every direction, how
wretched you are. and how quickly
your spirits rise again when a low
whistle or swapping of the fingers an
nounces that one Of the traokers has
hit 1t of further on!
At last certain signs show that you
are getting near the end; the trackers
take OFF their sandals and tuck Ut
their loin-cloths under their belts, lest
corner tapping In the wind should
scare the lion. For the first time you
take Jour rife from the native who
has had charge of 1t. and. with your
head shikari carrying second ride
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1909-05-07
Reading the Lion Tracks.

Abdullah still insisted that there
had been lions round the camp, and
little later we found the spoor of
one big lion by the body of the half
eaten hyena. The ground was very
stony and there were no other tracks
to be seen, but one lion could hardly
have dragged the donkey and heavy
barrel away so quickly, so there were
probably more. The other hunters
had got hold of man at the village
who said he knew where the lions
always lay, so they went with MIN.
Soon after they left. Abdullah, who
had been hunting about, came and
told me that he had picked up the
track of one lion on soft ground lit
tie way from camp, and that we ought
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1909-05-07

quite unable to move. All the life in
him seemed concentrated in his eyes,
which glared at us furiously. Another
shot put him out of his misery. The
first shot, very bad one, had grazed
the spine just in front of the withers !;
another quarter Of an inch higher and
it would have missed altogether.
This lion was quite maneless, ex-
cept for few long hairs on each side
of the neck, and his teeth were worn
down quite short, so he was evidently
very old. He was in very good condi-
ton, Notwithstanding, but his stomach
was quite empty, which accounted for
his going so far before lying up. We
had to stop at the main camp for the
night when we got there, and did not
follow up our camels till the next day.
have described this track rather at
length because it is good example of
many similar days.
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1909-05-07
10 n
Shooting.
i'm
SOrnaliland
Bv Lord DeIdmere

Foremost among the great hunt-
ing authorities of The English speak
kng world is Lord Deldmere. He is
credited with being the heaUiest kill
ier in the party Which Jagged the
record number of african lions some
ifew gears ago. In East Central At
RIGA has prowesS is familiar to euery
natiUe. Not long ago locality beset
Nth lions sent a delegation four
hundred miles to call on Lord Dela-
mere to ask him TO come and Wipe
out the destroyers of their cattle. In
this article he viuidly contrasts the
theory and practice of lion hunting
in the region which Er-PreSident
Roosevelt WiH inuade.
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1909-05-07
PeriIs of the Man Eater.

My first experience in tracking lions
was early in 1892, and the night be-
fore was rather an exciting one. After
hunting elephants unsuccessfully for
about month, we were on our way
south, when we arrived one day at
some villages where the natives had
been very much bothered by five lions
which were said to be still in the
neighborhood. A girl had been killed
two days before, and an enormous
amount of damage had been done
among the sheep and cattle. The first
day we camped there two of our party
had shooting zerebas made at the vii
page to which the lions generally
came, and just before sunset they
went off there.
tied up our two donkeys just out
side the camp, on the chance that the
lions might come and look us up. Just
after dark we were having dinner in
the tent when there was scuffie out
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1909-05-07

Agitation regarding the pay OF
French military officers has had some
effect, for the minister of war has
asked for an extraordinary credit or
100000 to supplement the pay of the
officers, which has not been increased
since 1870. In that time nearly every
grade of state official has had bis sti-
pend raised. but the sub-lieutenant has
had to make both ends meet as best
he could with six francs a day and
the lieutenant with eight.
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1909-05-07

of lion hunting.
Two of my men got badly mauled by
a lion, so our camp had to stop where
it was till they could be moved. After
a time one of them was able to walk
about with his arm In sling, and the
other was getting on well, so one night
| decided to leave the big camp next
day and go with two or three camels
to some villages only a 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, camelman, who had
gone up the river-bed close by to get
some water, came running back to say
that a lion had been down to drink
at one of the shallow sand wells in the
night. / started at once with Abdul
lah and two other trackers, telling my
pony boy to follow on as soon as he
could get the pony saddled When
tracking, l have always found 1t the
best plan to have the pony led some
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, it is sure to stamp or blow its
nose at the critical moment.
When we got to the well there was
the spoor plain enough in the sand,
but rather blurred by some rain which
had fallen at daybreak. This made
the tracking little difficult after we
left the river-bed, but when we had
followed 1t slowly for some distance,
we came to place where the lion had
lain down under a thick bush, evil
IDENTIFY to shelter from the rain, as the
spoor after this was quiet distinct on
the top of the damp ground. This
made us think we were in for short
track, for it must have been light
when the lion went on again from
here, and lions generally lie up short
ly after the sun rises; but this day
proved an exception, because 1t was
cloudy and cool through the forenoon.
Trailing the King of Beasts.
The spoor now led us along sandy
path, where we could follow it as fast
as we could walk. When it turned off
the lion at any moment; but not bit
of it-he wandered about through
endless clumps of mimosa ard "irgin"
bushes. as If he did not mean to lie
up at all.
The track at last led us down a
little sandy watercourse, which 1t fol.
lowed for some distance. Up to this
time we had had no real difficulty
in making 1t out, but now came our
first serious check The nullah turned
off along the side of a stony ridge
and. instead of going along 1t. the
lion had turned up the hill. We had
got the general direction thr the lion
had been going in, but this was nc
good to us, as on casting forward In
the same line to the bottom cf the
other side of the ridge whore there
was some sandy ground. we could find
no sign of his having passed in that
direction. We spent some time hunt
ing about. growing less hopeful al
time went on. A man following q
trail by sight certainly has an enor
nous advantage over hound hunting
II by nose. because time is of nj
particular object to him, and ever,
direction can be tried In turn. Aftel
making out cast forward we wen
bacl: to the little water-course. an,
followed that down for some distance
hoping that the lion had turned dowI
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1909-05-07

HE best piece of
lion tracking l ever
saw lasted five full
hours and is so
memorable in sew
eral respects that |
purpose to use it as
an introduction to
that general method
of lion hunting.
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1909-05-07
HospltabIe.

She-And did you enjoy your AT
rican trip. major? How do you like
the savages?
He-Oh, they were extremely kind
heartfelt They wanted TO keep me
there for dinner.
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1909-05-07
Battling Ways of the Jungle Folk

hdlu6T CuTlOuS COlnClu6uCeS are
sometimes brought to light by spoor.
Not very long after the date of the
story just related, one of our party
went to a place where two lions had
been killing regularly, and sat up two
nights for them with donkey as bait.
The lions must have left the district
for a day or two while he was there,
as there were no fresh tracks to be
found anywhere about. The day after
he came back to camp l happened to
| ride out in that direction. Soon after
we started we came on the spoor of
two lions, which led us along a path
till we came to the shooting zereba-
The night after he had left, the lions
had walked over the very spot where
his donkey had been lied up in the
middle of the path.
A little later, again, happened to
| be at place where he had camped
few days before. A lion roared near
my camp several times in the night.
and next morning / heard he had
taken sheep from village close by.
We picked up his spoor in a river
| bed near the camp, and after follow
ing 1t for some distance came to some
wells. The lion had drunk twice, and
| between the drinks had laid down
under the fence of shooting zereba,
which had been made to watch the
water. After drinking the second
time he had gone away.
Now and then when tracking you
come across places where lions have
killed, and il it is on sand or bare
soil, you can tell everything that has
happened almost as well as II you
had seen It, We were camped once
on the edge of river-bed and thick
| covert ran right down TO the back OF
the camp. One night there was a,
tremendous scufring in these bushes,
so in the morning I went out to sec
what had been going on, and found
that two lions had been chasing
warthog, which had just saved its,
bacon by getting underground. IT
must have been very near thing,
as the lions had ploughed great fur
rows in the sand at the mouth of the
hole, showing they had pulled up pret-'
ty sharp. Warthogs generally go to-
ground when pursued, and as there is
no SeCOnu opSuiu6 W Inc puIIOWS, duu
presumably no chamber at the end
where they can turn, they always go
in backwards. This has actually been
seen by sportsmen who have been
riding after them with spear. 1
should think this pig can hardly have
had the time to do this. Perhaps he
got jammed in head first, as he rer.
fused to be smoked out when we tried
1t.
BY permission Of Longmans. Green 6
Co., New York.
Copyright 1909. by Benz. B. Hampton)
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1909-05-07
Driving the Lion to Bay.

The shape made it IN easy place to
drive, for little way out from the