CAMPAIGNING IN AFRICA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 269, 23 April 1915, Page 5

CAMPAIGNING IN AFRICA.

BRITISH SOLDIER'S FATAL EIGHT WITH A LION. The Natal Mercury prints the following letter received by a Genniston (Transvaal) resident from a village about 200 miles from Nairobi, British East Africa. "The advance into German East Africa has really commenced, and the first important engagement took place nearly three weeks ago, when (we captured the rather important post of Longido. It was strongly entrenched, and we eventually drove the Germans off at nightfall, when they managed to retreat with a loss of two killed and about eighteen wounded.

"We have to tackle lions as well as Germans. The other night six of the beasts hovered round our camp, and chewed up two mules before we got going at them. We killed two and wounded a third, a mangy old pioneer, who next day badly mauled one of our fellows, who went down to the stream to shoot wild fowl. The poor fellow was taken by surprise, the wounded lion springing out of some tall grass. H planted one shot, but, unfortunately, not with fatal effect;

"The animal sprang on him and tore lihn up terribly. He managed to regain his rifle, and, although suffering intense pain, finished off the infuriated brute with a well-directed shot in the head. but lie was badly hurt, was H ', and how he got back to Magadi at all I don't know. Ho died three days later."