The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-02-10

rom each side, with q fine, strong silk
cora attached to their hair triggers
and stretched across the entrance.
upon the return of the lion he would
entrance, and when he started In, one
or the other of the rifles was pretty
sure to get him.
FOUND the donkey partially eaten
IN this case. and had my boys. build a
scarum, in which I set the rifles, then
we dug several pits. j had discovered
the kraal of an American, n few miles
away, and vent over to pay him a
visit for 1t a a treat to meet some
one who spoke English and could talk
OF the things and places I knew.
We were drinking Scotch and soda
when some of my boys rushed in. cry.
ing. he lion is over there" / ran
with them. to lind that a pair of lions
mad visited the carcass. and that the
male lion bad been killed by the trap
guns. The female, in prowling around,
irving to find a way to reach her mate,
mad g caught in one of the pits,
where we located her by her roaring.
we erected poles and rugged blocks
and tackle over the mouth of the hole.
managed to attach ropes to the roar
ed her out. and with much prodding
and the discharge of blank cartridges
got her in the bamboo cage.
we always travelled at night to avoid
inc intense heat OF the day time, and
dawn was breaking when he arrived
at Bamboo Creek station and UNDER
LOOK to transfer the lioness from our
bamboo cage to another cage, on a
railway car. My Dutch partners start.
eo nack to the bush, as we did not
CONSIDER II necessary for them to stay.
Our ropes were still attached to her
n putting my boys on these,
while I opened the bamboo cage,
punched the brute out into the open
on the side next to the car, and got
her headed toward the car door.
10 hasten her movements 1 threw
my weight against her from the rear,
as L had often done before in similar
cases, at the same time shouting 10
my Dogs on one side 20 ease up on
:heir ropes. With one shove 1 thought
l could get her through the gate and
snap it shut. But the boys misunder-
stood my order. and all of them on
n side dropped their ropes. This
direction. and the strain from the
ropes on that side brought her up
against the side of the car and pre-
vented her from getting through the
door. '0
a turning. she knocked me off
the gang plank. between the car and
the donkey cart, then leaped down
AFTER me, pinning me to the ground.
For several seconds she stood across
me. licking my face with her tongue,
which was so like a rasp that l could
feel it scraping the skin away. I
oui hear my boys shouting in their
native fnnrIIn echo 1s1,, H.. Tin, -
chiet!" and. from the sound of their
voices, I knew they were running away
In terror. ~
Selling me in her teeth, the lioness
swung me partially across her shout
DER II tried to make off. but the
ropes We're secured on one side and
stopped her with a jolt that made her
furious. With a roar that seemed to
make the earth tremble she fiopped
me against the ground, again threw
hcrseif across me and began to chew
my side.
-! had read and heard that a man
old not feel the pain when being
cheWed by a lion-that stupor, paralv-
Sis through fear. or whatever YOU call
II deadened the pain-but this was
NOT rue in my case. I could feel ev-
cry movement of her jaws and teeth
as she sank them in my side, biting
through the ribs as a rat would crush
an egg shell. tearing the flesh away.
snarling II making a peculiar
Smacking noise as she got the taste of
blood. ~ VI
was so frightful as to make me wish
She would finish the job in a hurry.
MY mind was working all the time
ana was saying in a way: There goes
another rib. She has reached the lung,
now. There. that bite has penetrated
inc plcural cavity. | wonder how
much longer-oh. how much longer!!"
l could hear a kettle drum
pom poh pom. pom-anothcr kct-
lie drum-many kettle drums-their
noise grew d~eafening. The breast of
n loness was AGAINST my face. |
could get the odor of her bodv--a
s%lckening odor. She appeared to be
settlng larger-to my mind she was
GROWING; she became as large as ten
her body expanded until it an
peared to cover the whole ]and-and
all the time the din Of the kettle
drums kept up.
had a pistol at my right hip, but
couid not reach it. l had every reason
~ nc fortified against just such a
h hnd one of my former partners
d neen dragged from my side in
bed and eaten by a lion. l had also
seen ono OF my boys slashinr - lion
the face with a knife while hc
was being chewed, and we were unable
TO shoot the lion for fear of killing
the boy. a lion had also taken a boy
out Of a wagon where / was sleepinr
one night. and devoured him almost
under my nose. These things had
set me thinking. I had lain awake
nights Wondering what 1 would do in
d slmllar predicament. and I had re-
solved upon carrying a spare Luerer
pistol in my boot. 1
Bear in mind things had been hap-
pening very quickly around me. 7
presume I had not been on the ground
more than a minute-perhaps not half
a minute-although it seemed like an
age to me. he" re I could get nv left
hand down to my right boot, extract