SOME BLOOD CURDLING LION STORIES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 24 January 1890, Page 3

SOME BLOOD CURDLING LION STORIES.

'■" r (Contirraeu.) . "What is it ?" asked Jantje, going 1 up to him. "I don't know,',' answered the minA' r ' '. BomG-biug** hit^me ' L o_t the toad.'*' „.' , . At this, .mom^ht ' Jantje, -saw ,by th« \sss<oi Hh& fire blood <■ do*w» his neck, .and called out, ' ' Wake,. „ wako ; *it was the' lion I heard! Wake," wakey anc. see if^ry dn'e.'is'hdro," ' "'

It soon appeared thnt one of tbe ( Kafirs was missing, and this is what no doubt had happened. The lion had sprung in amongst the sleepers, and seizing ono by the head had : .tilled him instantly and carried him ofi, and at tho same time had struck the man lying next him on the head with his paw, inflicting a cut on the scalp with one of his claws, which were p£ course protruded. The body jof the x&ra who had been carried off was not recorered, because, as Henry Wall and Jantje say, the Kafirs would give them no assistance in following the spoor, so that th-ey had to give it up and return to oamp. After that, this saoi©-. Bon killed, several more people, fthd kept the nativw in a creat st^te of .alarm over a large trot of country, and it waa not until his -victims numbered over thirty that he was/ killed, and in tl*# following manner. Two young aaen were ona d(*y about to go into the forest to chop poles to build a hut, when one said tt the other, " Now, if the lion that has killed so many people attacks us; what shall we do ?" *" We must atand -and face : him with oat* assegais," answered hia friend; •' if h» iatt*a,cka; Ona; •f us, the other can nith in and ■tab bim." Tbe first epeajcef agreed, aud they proceeded to the forest. This is the, conversation th-ft the natives report to have taken plaoe, and may or may net be true, but what indisputably happened is %.._AM^w hind the othor, and still close to their village, 1 We WiudbMf : appefred « and rushed Upon *thetn. One of the j young men stabbed the monster as lie sprang upon him, but at the same time received a blow from thejgreat ] paw, arcied, with its terrible claws, wbich tore his neok and throat open, and laid him bleedifigoatl^e.ground. At tbe same time' his comrade a<U vanoiug threw his assegai into the lion, striking him fairly iv the ribs behicd tbe shoulder, on which, mor- ] tally Wdrinded, Ue'turhed and walked away, with- the • two assegais still sticking iv him. The two yoing men got back t<r their village, but the one whe had been injured by the lion's claws died the same evening. The next day all the men of the village tu^ed out, Mild mustered up - courage-rfnoTigfh to lollowiW feloo^ tracks "of the wounded lion. They had not far to pro, for the grim beast lay dead within a few hundred yards of the spot where he had attacked tbe two J-Tafirs the previous day. A great quantity of dry wood waa then collected and a huge fire lighted, on , which the carcass was thrown and consumed utterly, as is the custom 1 iv tbo interior of Africa when manea'ing lions are killed.