Year: 1870

neighborhood; for every now and then
he would look sharply IN Che direction Of
the wagons. On such occasions cou
feel nv heart beat Violently, and the
Precipitation would start to my skin.


And no wonder. "But did the lion,N
1 asked, "remain perfectly quiet through
out the whole dayp III fgJey y Jf


"No, unluckily he did not, answered
the trader. "His restlessness kept me in
constant anxiety. Once atroop Of zebras
came suddenly by u.s. When they saw
the lion they wheeled quickly about,
snorted, and dashed or furiously in an
other directions The lion rose to his feet
in an instant, turned half round, and look
ed hard at them. Lions are particularly
fond of the flesh of the zebra, and had
strong hopes that he would leave me and
go after them. ButI suppose the cum
ming rascal reflected that bird in the
hand was worth two in the bush Z for he
turned back and lay down again, grum-
bling, and staring harder than ever at
me, as though he meant to say, You see,
my fine fellow, have lost zebra through
you; and now / mean TO make sure OF
you You may believe that in my heart
bestowed a few witch's blessings on the
beast but l thought 1t best to keep
silence


"Tbe next alarm came from the direc-
tion of my wagons. j saw the lion look
earnestly in that direction, as he had
done once or twice before, and then rise
to his feet and utter an angry gvowl, as
though he saw something that did not
please him, I learned afterward that my
men, urged on by Apollo, had armed
themselves to the teeth, and advanced to
| al. - a. L, sks~0 nit
| their wonderfully keen sight, they could
perceive the lion keeping guard over me
| but no sooner did they see the brute rise
and turn toward me than they all scam
pered back to the wagons and jumped
into them, frightened almost out of their
wits.


\ after little while, the lion crouched
down again before me, stretched out his
paws, yawned and winked, and 1 thought
seemed to be growing tired of his watch.
But it was clear that he had made up his
mind to remain there till night, otherwise
he would have settled my account with.
out further delay.


"Toward evening / heard q low roar


ing, which seemed 10 be at a great dis
tance. 1t appeared to disturb my lion a


good deal. From the sound knew it to


be the roar of lioness and thought it
likely that the old fellows mate was


looking about for him. He got up and


lay down again two or three times, NOV


ing about uneasily and shifting the ground


as though he was troubled IN his mind /;


but he remained silent, and at last the


voice of the lioness passed gradually out
of hearing. This, think, was the most


anxious moment of the whole day to me.


For if the lion had answered his mate


and called her to him, she would most


likely have been hungry, and in that case


would not have delayed an instant In


seizing upon the nice supper which her


husband was keeping for himself. dare


say the cunning old rascal was of the


same opinion, and SO thought it best to


keep his own counsel.


"At last the night came. The stars were


bright, but there was no moon. l could


see Objects indisLinctly at short distance


and could Just discern the outlines of the


hills to the eastward. The lion lay quiet


in a shaggy mass, few yards from me-


knew that he was wide awake, and that


he saw distinctly every motion / made


Occasionally could see his eyes turned


toward me, shining like two Goals of fire


My last hope now was that by remaining


perfectly silent and motionless / might


tire him out or keep him from attacking


me until something happened, as IN the


case of the Hottentot We were speaking


Of, to draw him Oft


"For this purpose it was necessary thai


l should remain awake, and this was real


ly matter of the greatest difficulty to me


was completely worn out, as you may
imagine, after being forty eight hours


without food or sleep, and my mind mos


of the time wrought up to the highes


pitch of anxiety. The night was chilly


which alone would have caused me u
feel sleepy Everything about me wa


as silent as the grave, and l had to maxi


continued efforts to keep my eyelid
open.
, Every now and then I caught mysel
nodding, and would awaken with a sud
den start OF terror at the thought that tn
lion might be just preparing 10 spring
upon me. That was really horrid time
1 hardly like to think of it even now.
was like condemned prisoner VIII
awakes from nightmare to remenbe
that he is to be executed in few hours
l don't think could have held out in tha
! condition through the night 1t was to-
much for human nature.


1.-TWO or three hours after the darknes
had set in, could hear the animals com
} ing to the water to drink. Some of then
passed at little distance from me, but
did not get sight OF any. The lion SAY
them plainly, but he only moved his hea
1 a little as they trotted by. There was n
: chance of his leaving me and going afte
T them as / had hoped. All at once he lift
. ed his head, looked toward me and bega
I to growl. Now, / thought, the time
:. come He rose ON his feet and growle
t louder, all the while looking hard at me
}, as thought. p.
s ; Il braced myself up for struggle, wit
: my gun in my left hand and my handkel


chief ir my right. / had q notion of eI
? deavoring TO thrust the gun crosswise int


his mouth, and then getting my righ
: hand down his throat. 1t was a very poo
f chance, but the only one LETT, and mean


to die game.


. an fact, had given up all hope. Bu
| in few minutes the lion, to my surpris'
t became quiet again and sat down. II
= did not lie down, as before, but kept h
4 head stretched forward toward me, like
$ cat inteAtly examining some object.
{ last he lay down again as though he wa
I satisfied about the matter that had dl
turbed him. But in another ten minute
! or so he rose up once more to his feet an
d growled more ferociously than ever.
o alt struck me then that another lio


might be cautiously approaching me b.
8 hind, and that my particular friend WI
9 objecting to any division of the spoil.
g this were the case my fate would soon |
settled. Then thought it just possib
!, thst my men might be making some a
a tempt TO save me under cover of the daEl
l ness; but there was little likelihood {
! their mastering courage enough to &
( anything effectual. was now fully awak
l as you may suppose The lion was stan,
Z ing up, growing continually, and mo,
n ing from side to side as he felt uncertai


what 10 do At last he crouohed, and
q saw clearly that he was getting ready 4
} "At that moment heard a loud ye
o behind me, and saw, everything aroun
d lighted up by a blaze of fire. The ye
: was kept up constantly for q minute {
n two, and all at once somebody, looking
d though his head and shoulders were all


blaze, came running in between me an
Is the lion. The brute gave q most tremel


dous roar, more in fright than anger, an
A | ,r,a,,t hO,,vo1in,. off futO ha dorlr,aaaa