The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1910-11-10
A Too Hasty Shot

With my rife ready, cautious
ly approached the patch, but as
could not make out where the ANNA
might be, ! said to my gun bearer
81 have lost it," The patch of gras!
extended perhaps for a quarter of {
mile. Suddenly long tail switched
upward, and instantly a huge lior
raised himself up and gave a fierce
deep growl Up went my rife and
fired. The lion was fully two hun
dred yards off; the bullet almost
| grazed its head. The act was auto
matte; the shock Of Unexpectedly fac
| ing lion must have paralyzed volt
| ton, or / would most certainly not
have risked at that distance my only
shot, on which the life of the two OF
us might have depended.
This brings to my mind a passage
in a medical lecture / once attended
The lecturer, to impress the medical
students with the proximity of certain
nerve centers in the brain, used Eve
and the apple" as an illustration.
This is the center for sight," he said
AAfV saw IuC dpplS anu Ills 10
the center for movement of the arms
Eve stretched out her hand for it"
In my case the sight of the lion
prompted the defensive motion of my
arms. Fortunately for me, the lion
turned and bounded Off / reloaded
my rife and hurried after it, eager to
shoot it and to secure such a splendid
brute. But though it seemed to be
merely trotting, and my gun bearer
and l were running, as If 1t were
a racing match, the lion got steadily
farther away and finally disappeared
beyond the undulating ridges. When
we reached camp, | was greeted by
my companion with the remark that
lion had been in sight of the camp and
had disappeared in the scrub near us;
that he had gone to look for 1t, but
had seen no trace of 1t.
The whole caravan were greatly ex-
cited saying the lion was crouching
in the long grass, and would wait till
dusk. and then pay us an unpleasant
visit. Having rested myself, / went
once more after the lion; but l fol
lowed a different plan to what my
companion had tried. AS the lion had
crossed the caravan road, l went to
track him instead of looking for him
at haphazard. ! found the footprints,
and several of my men now systemat-
ically tracked them for me. The trail
led downwards to a grassy dell. Just
then a couple of cartridges few up
and settled in a patch of grass on the
higher ground. / exchanged my rife
for gun, and thought might as we'll
bag partridge for supper, whilst my
men went tracking towards the dell
The boy who had carried the gun ac-
companied me; though the gun was
now in my own hands.
AS l skirted the edge of the grass
patch, noticed a peculiar opening at
one spot, as If a longish animal had
entered there. said to my boy: II
am sure the lion has passed here"
but / never dreamt the lion my men
were tracking down hill could at that
summit of the hill had passed the
spot half dozen yards when curl
osity prompted me to go back and to
have another look at 1t. Balancing
myself on my left foot, with my fowl
ing piece held unconcernedly in my
hands, was leisurely turning the
grass this way and that with my right
foot. when the same huge lion, just
as it did on the former occasion, ex. |
cept that it was now only few yards |
from me, sprang up, dashed its tail |
furiously, and growled or rather |
snarled at me. My boy was paralyzed |
with fear. could see how both his
hands went UP and his fingers curled
inwards, and then he, gave yell of
terror. AS on the previous occasion,
the sudden shock deprived me of the
sensation of fear, but automatically
my hands endeavored to shoot back
the safety bolt of my gun and to get
it ready for defense.
Before / could act the lion had am
pie time to have killed both of us:
but once more 1t turned and fled. AS
the black tip Of the tail disappeared
over the next undulatfon, got at
last my gun in position and sent some
small No. shots at it, though /
might as well have tickled the tip
Of the tail with feather brush, as
regards any harm / could have done
with such tiny shot at that distance
But l was mad with myself at having
ost such splendid chance; only
better thoughts entered my
lead. and l felt thankful that twice |
his day Providence had saved me, in
pite of my folly, from painful mutt
alton and probable death.