TALES OF A LION-HUNTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 11 August 1909, Page 79

TALES OF A LION-HUNTER.

IN THE UNKNOWN WILDS OP - CENTRAL AFRICA. One. day (writes Captain Fitz Duquesne, the big game hunter, who has just given an account of his African adventures), just as the blue haze oi morning was lifting from the forest, I saw a flock of vultures sailing in the air and swooping from time to time. I knew there was dead meat somewhere near. I started out in search. In a quarter of an hour, right under where the vultures were circling, I heard the crunching .of bones in a clump of rocks half hidden in the high grass. There was that unmistakable sound of some large animal eating and tearing flesh. After manoeuvring for some time I came across a wide trail of crushed, blood-stained grass, showing that some large animal must have been dragged. No animal but a lion could drag a body big enough to make such a large trail. Cautiously approaching the recks, I heard the animal's satisfied growls, and saw the ravenous vultures, hook-beaked' and hungry-eyed, perched on the points of vantage, awaiting their chanoe to swoop down. I had to be catreful, for if the vultures gave the danger signal all chanoe of getting the game would be lost. After arawling a few yards further I go' a peep between the rocks. Lying down, wut-h two -cubs suckling, was a beautiful lioness, chewing at the rump of an hnpala antelope. I hated to shoot, but I was a hunter, and there was nothing else to do. Although I could see the lioness >n a general way, it was a particularly hard shot, as there were many thorn bushes and stones in my road. The vultures weie getting uneasy. I moved, and they all ro^e with a heavy flapping of w : ngs. The liona^B, startled, cprang to the top of the rocks, the cubs following. It was «o sudden that I fired without taking aim, and missed the mother, but wounded a cub. The other cub made jff into the bush, the lioness following. — Marvel of Mother's Love. — I was in a bpd temger through disappointment, and direw my knife to cut the throat of the wounded tub, which was whining in pain. As I put my hand down to make the thrust it licked me with itts little hot tongue, and a pleading look filled its toft tyes>. It was too much like killing a baby. I slipped my knife back into its .'Jieath. It was a hamiJe&s little fluffy ball, a kitten, and- I picked it up and patted it. I was carrying It back to the camp when 1 heard a noise behind me. I " looked back and saw the mother slip into the undergrowth. I knew then that there was going to be trouble. Two or throe times around the camp that day the yellow form of the lioness wan eeen flitting across partly-exposed places in the bush. I washed the. cub's wound and put some healing preparation from my medicine dies' on it. That night I gave the sentries warning of possible danger, arid took my little captive into my tent, and tied it" to my stretcher. I drow.<%d off to sleep watching the shadow of the sentry on the tent as he pa&sed between it and the- fire. Suddenly a jerk at my stretcher awoke me. Instinctively placing my hand on my Luger pistol, I opened my eyes, expecting, if anything, to we- the guard. My heart almost stopped to move meant destruction, for there, on three legs, with an angry snarl and one paw rai ed to strike, was the lionecs in the half H^ht

that the dying camp fire threw Through ' the flaps of the tent. My brains were of no use to me, for they ceased to work. In silent fear, almost paralysed, I lay. The lioness grabbed its cub andi gave a tug. The cord that held it snapped, overturning my stretcher. She turned and bounded through the door, carrying her precious offspring. A shot shattered the silence of the night. I ©prang to my feet, and saw the guard standing over the quivering form of the faithful lioness, still holding her beloved cub in her mouth. She was dead. — A Bloodstained Trail. — • It seemed a pity to kill this motherly beast, but it was too late to be sorry. How she ever passed the guard bafflea me. A few days afterward, while one of the shikarees (native hunters) was stalking antelope for food, he came across a weak lit/tie cu,b that was evidently dying : of starvation. He brought it to tube camp, j It was so like the one 1 had wounded that I have no doubt it was the other cub of the lioness the guard shot. We raisedi the cubs "on the- bottle." On another occasion we were camped on a stretch of veld near the Kafu River. A number of mules that we used for trans-portatiop purposes were in a kraal some distance from the- camp. About midnight, when the whole camp, with the exception of the guards, -was asleep, a wild screech, followed by the unmistakable roar of a lion, came from the direction of the mules We were too familiar ! with the sounds not to know what was 'lappening. Seizing my rifle, and rushin-g from my tent, I made straight for the noise, pre- j paring for emergencies as I did so. A | half doze-n natives were beside me. We ! were half way to the kraal when a couple J of shots sounded from the direction of the guards, and the nex 1 instant the huge bulk of a lion came in leaps and bounds toward us. As soon as he saw us coming j he turned at right angles and made for the bu&h. As he did so I raised my l-ifle and ■emptied the magazine at his form, ! which was soon lost in the blackness of the night. Notwithstanding Lhat my shots were fired only as luck fhote, I could tell thai I had at least wounded tlie , animal by a low growl of pair that ' escaped him. , The next morning, before daybreak, we > resumed the search for Iha lion. A& the ! first signs of dawn broke through the eaot ' we came on the lion's blood-stained spoor. We followed it for 10 minuter ; then it led into the open fic-!d. Thea^e, illumined by the first light shafts the .sun shot through the hills, lay i the lion. 6tretched out ait full Length. Be.-ide him *a.t a huge blond lionest?, licking a wound in his back. My firv-t impulse was to drop on my knee» and shoot. But something in my heart revolted, li was to pathetic, this lioness ~.0 like a woman ; t-be seemed a ci\ilii=ed being and I a ravage. i — In Defence of Her Mate. — j We advanced, and the lioness, j-eeing us for the fin-i thr.3, npran^ up and defiantly ai>pro<vched a few yard-*, hei iiail whipping tha air She returned to the lion, and slood o\er him. and then, as though deciding to fight, made a mighty leap towards me. I r?istd my rifle and pulled the nigysr. There vat no explosion. I pulled back my rifle bolt to thruct a cartridge into the barrel, when I saw thnt the mugaziiie was not loaded. Trusting to faie and my legs. I dropped my unless weapon and rnn for the nearest tree, the lionus? gaining on ice in leaps and bounds. I had not succeeded in reaching the tree when a c-hiknre>° broke thiough the bush in the dipt -a me and opened Sip v»it.h an amosr'atic rif!t j . dining a couple of bullet.- into the liouccs's i

back. She dropped -without a groan. | Had the shikaree missed or used a slowworking rifle I no doubt would have been , chewed., if not killed. j After getting my breath I examined the lion we had started out to get. He j was not dead. I found he had been shot j through the rump. His hind quarters J were paralysed, and he had dragged himself with his forepaws at least a mile. He rolled his eyes helplessly as we looked thim over. Not a murmur came from him. He seemed to wait in silence, like a Roman, for the death stroke. One shot put him out of his misery^. — Deadly Fight at the Water Pool.— On. one occasion I had the good fortune to witness a scene, in which a leopard was the chief actor, that left aai indelible picture in the gallery of my memory. . I was hunting one day., with a shikaree, for food. We were unsuccessful in getting a shot on the veld, and so decided to wait at a. vlei (water hole) bill the game came to drink. A second or two later the broad horns of a buffalo bull showed f through the leaves, and then came a cow with a calf. They came to the- water and drank. I did not shoot, as I wanted one- of .the smaller antelopes. All at once, like an arrow from the tree abovej shot the form of a leopard on to the back of a buffalo calf. In aflash there was a wild stampede. All ran but the buffalo cow, the mother of the calf. When the calf was struck it fell either dead or unconscious, and the snarling leopard stood over its prey for a second. Then the cow charged and hurled the marauder from her prostrate young. A fight commenced in earnest. The leopard, sprang to its feet, and in an instant was on the back of the cow. With the agility of a wrestler she fell and rolled over her aggressor, arising to ,ber feet again in a flash. Before tiie leopard could spring she rushed at him with a bellow like a fog-horn, struck him full on, and tossed hina into the water. In a moment the leopard was on the bank again. It sprang at the cow's throat, but missed as she dodged aside. Again the leopard sprang. Thecow fell back, lifted her head, and caught it full underneath, her' horns penetrating the leopard's body. The leopard roa<red i with pain as it fell to the ground, bleed--j ing freely from the double wound, and ! the cow was covered with gashes from its i antagonist's claws. The leopard sprang agaip on tihe back of the cow, but she easily shook him off. [ He stood for a moment, and then tried to stagger away. The buffalo made a rush, and, hurling him to the ground, thrust her horns again into his helpless ibody. He offered no resistance; but rolled over on has side and daed. The buffalo sniffed the dead body for a few minutes, then, satisfied with her work, went to her dead ca3f and licked it, mooing in pathetic anguish. I admired that cow too much to shoot it. My shikaree set up a cry, and I fired a shot to scare her away. We weait over and found the leopard's skin too badly mutilated to be of any value. The calf was served/ that night with curry and rice.