RANDOM READINGS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 513, 30 October 1912, Page 3

RANDOM READINGS.

TEDDY'S FINEST LION. According to Mr. Theodore Roosevelt's "African Game Trails : An Account of the African Wanderings of an American Hunter-Naturalist," the ex-President's first lion was a big-maned monarch which he bagged while hunting with '1 arlton. Mr. Roosevelt hit him iirst, but oniy slightly, and the lion, at 200 yards, prepared to charge. Again I knelt and fired, but the mass of hair on the lion made me think he was nearer than he was, and I undershot, inflicting a fleshwound that was neither crippling nor fatal. He was already grunting savagely and tossing, his tail erect, with his head held low, and at the shot the great sinewy beast came toward us with the speed of a greyhound. Tarltonthen, very properly fired, for lion-hunting is no child's play, and it is not good to run risks. Ordinarily it is a very mean thing to experience joy at a friend's miss, but this was not an ordinary case, and I felt keen delight when the bullet from the badly sighted rifle missed, striking the ground many yards short. I was sighting carefully, from my knee, and I knew I had the lion all right, for though he galloped at a great pace he came on steadily—ears laid back and uttering terrific coughing grunts —and there was now no question of making allowance for distance, nor, as he was out in the open, for the fact that he had not before been distinctly visible. My foresight bead was exactly on the centre of his chest as I pressed thfe trigger, and the bullet went as true as if the place had been plotted with dividers. The blow brought him up all standing, -and he fell forward on his head. When measured, the lion was found to be cjft 4m long, and his weight 4101b.

AN INDIAN'S COURAGE. The most ferocious and venomous reptile in Mexico, writes Mr. H. H. Harper in his account of "A Journey in South-Eastern Mexico," is the four-nosed snake. It usually measures from four to six feet in length, and from two to four inches in diameter, with sixteen great fangs, eight above and eight below.

The most remarkable feat of human courage that I ever witnessed was a battle between an Indian workman and one of these snakes. In company with a number of other workmen the Indian was chopping brush, and the snake sprang at him from a clump of brushes. The Indian struck at the snake with his machete, at the same time jumping .iside. The snake, narrowly missing his mark, landed four or five feet beyond. Immediately forming a coil, he iunged at the Indian, catching his bare leg just below the knee, and fastening its fangs into the flesh like a dog. The Indian made a quick pass with his machete and severed ihe snake's body about four inches from the head, leaving the head still clinging to his leg. :Ie stuck the point of the machete down through the snake's mouth, and twisting it round, prized '.he jaws apart, when the head dropped to the ground. The Indian, thinking that his doom was sealed, walked directly to where the brush fire was burning, and picking up a burning stick he applied the red-hot end to the affected part, holding it tightly against' his leg, and turning it over and over until the flesh was seared to the bone. After completing the operation he fell in a dead faint. He was carried to the house and revived. His grit and courage saved his life, and in less than three weeks he was at work again.

THE SLOVENLY FINANCIER. St range to say, Cecil Rhodes, hat Napoleon of finance, was, in '.lis personal money matters, almost as careless as a child. If they were not told on such good authority as that of Sir Lewis Mitchell, in his biography of Rhodes, these stories would not be believed:

To a banker brought up in the strictest tenets of his sect, he was an undoubted trial. He once lost a diamond worth £7O, but he took no steps to recover it. In such matters he was habitually careless. He never had any money in his pocket, and his banking account was frequently overdrawn. , He refused 10 check or investigate any financial •statements I submitted to him, nor did he ever know what he was worth until I framed a balancesheet for him. The compilation of ■the document was a work of difficulty and research. His securities were often found to" be registered in the names of third parties. Some were in the pockets of disused coats and some in obscure corners of his escritoire. He never kept a set of books 01 a list of sums due to him. Secretaries of public companies were apt to complain that his dividend warrants were unduly outstanding, and he had to be searched ere they could be found. When I sequestered his chequebook in his own interests, he issued cheques on half sheets of note paper, and on some occasions signed them in pencil.