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Show Gl lBtlNG BIG p pi in MSPiiHii We had a shot or two at the sound, and the beasts, whatever they were, went away. As at that time we knew nothing about Hons, we were not quite sure that they were net hyenas after all; but Abdullah stuck to it they were Hons, so we got our beds and lay down one on each side of the opening, Just behind the fence to watch, hoping that the brutes would come back. Nothing furtl.-- r happened, however. At daybreak we sallied out to see if by any chance we had managed to hit a Hon, but we only found two or three dead hyenas. One ot these brutes bad been partly eaten; we thought at the time by other hyenas, as It was still too dark o make out tracKs. We cam to the conclusion we had made lulrts rt ourselves, and had been shooting all night at hyenas, and we did not feel any the better whin our friends came back from their n.ght at the village and Perils of the Man Eater. told us we had probably frightened My first experience in tracking lions lion out of the country by our was early in 1892, and the night be- every bombardment. fore was rather an exciting one. After hunting elephants unsuccessfully for Reading the Lion Tracks. about a month, we were on our way Abdullah ' rtlll Insisted that there south, when we arrived one day at some villages where the natives had had been Hons round the camp, and been very much bothered by five llous a little later we found the spoor ot which were said to be still In the one big Hon by the body of the hyena. The ground was very neighborhood. A girl had been killed two days before, and an enormous stony and there were no other tracks amount of damage had been done to be seen, but one Hon could hardly among the sheep and cattle. The first have dragged the donkey and heavy day we camped there two of our party barrel away so quickly, so there were had shooting zerebas made at the vil- probably more. The other hunters lage to which the lions generally had got hold of a man at the village came, and Just before sunset they who said he knew where the Hons went off there. always lay, so they went with aim. I tied up our two donkeys Just out- Soon after they left., Abdullah, who side the camp, on the chance that the had been hunting about, came and Driving the Lion to Bay. Hons might come and look us up. Just to'd me that he had picked -- p the The shape made It ; n easy place to after dark we were having dinner In track of one uoa on soft ground a lit drive, for a little way out from tne the tent when there was a scuffle out- - tie way from camp, and that we ought hill again; but here, jo, we were disappointed, and gravitated back to where we had first lost the spoor. We knew that the lion had not gone straight on, nor bad he turned back; be must have gone along the top of the ridge and then crossed Into other stony tillta where is was hopeless to try to track him. Abdullah, who Is never defeated, further said there was a big river-beon In the direction In which the Hon was going. It seemed a very slender chance, as he might have turned oft anywhere in between, but it was the only one, so off we went. We were evidently in luck that day, for we had ! only gone about a quarter of a mile when we struck the spoor. The Hon seemed now to have made up his mind as to his direction, for he. kept on straight down the middle of the river-bed- . The sun had come out from behind the clouds, and In places the sand was very deep, so that wa were not sorry when at last the track led into a Jlttle Island of bush in the great fiat sand. There was no doubt the Hon was at home, for on canting round no sign was perceptible ot a track coming out. The Island," raised was a little above the river-bed- , formed of a mass of bush and creepers clustered round a few big trees. The water coming down the river after heavy rain had washei It roughly into the form of a triangle, the apex of which pointed up the From this point the sides river. widened out to the other end, wnlch was about thirty yards broad, the whole lengi being somewhat under a hundred yards. Lion Shooting d Somaliland By Lord Delamere Foremost among the great hunting authorities of the English speaking world is Lord Delamere. lie is credited with leing (he heaviest killer in the party which bagged the record number of African lions some few years ago. In Hast Central Africa his prowess is familiar to every native. Sot long ago a locality beset with lions sent a delegation four hundred miles to call on Lord Delamere to ask him to come and wipe out the destroyers of their cuttle. In this article he vividly contrasts the theory and practice of lion hunting in the, region which thick-tangle- I I lpI HE beat piece of linn Irnrlilnir I pver saw lasted Ave full hours and Is so memorable In sev- - eral respects that rtt.nTTrriTil nurnnan in use r , d halt-eate- n I It an an Introduction to that general method o( Hon hunting. Two of my men got badly mauled by a lion, so our camp had to stop where It was till they could be moved. After a time one of them waB able to walk about with his arm In a sling, and the other was getting on well, bo one night 1 decided to leave the big camp next day and go with two or three camels to some villages only a day's march away. Early the next morning Mahomed Noor, the headman, started with the camels. I stopped behind to get some breakfast Just as we were going to follow, a camelman, who had gone up the river bed cloBe by to get some water, came running back to say that a lion had been down to drink at one ot the shallow sand wells In the night., 1 started at once with Abdullah and two other trackers, telling my to follow on as soon as he pony-bocould get the pony saddled. When tracking, I have always found It the best plan to have the pony led some distance behind. The boy ought to have no difficulty in following the tracks of two or three men and a lion, and it the pony la kept close up, it is sure to stamp or blow Its nose at the critical moment. When we got to the well there was the spoor plain enough In the sand, but rather blurred by some rain hlch This made bad fallen at daybreak. the tracking a little difllcult after we left the river bed, but when we had followed it slowly for seme distance, we came to a place where the Hon had lain down under a thick bush, evidently to shelter from the rain, as t.ie spoor after this was quiet distinct on the Mop of the damp ground. This mad us think we were In for a short track, for It must have been light when the lion went on again from here, and lions generally He up shortly after the sun rises; but this day proved an exception, be ause It was cloudy and cool through the forenoon. Trailing the King of Beasts. The spoor now led us along a sandy path, where we could follow it as fast as we coul walk. When It turned off Into the bufth we quite expected to see the Hon at any moment; but not a bit ot it he wandered about through endless clumps of mimosa a d "irgtn" bushes, as if he did not mean to He up at all. The track at last ed us down a little sandy watercourse, which It followed for some distance. I'p to this time we had had no real difficulty In makliig it out. but new came our first serious check. The nullah turned off along the side of a stony ridge, and, instead of going along it. the Hon hud turned up the hill. We had got the general direction th- the Hon had been going in, but this was no good to us, as on casting lorwurd In the same line to yie bottom of the other side of the ridge where th'ro was some sandy ground, we could find no sign ot his having passed In that direction. We spent some time hunt Ing about, growing loss hopeful as time went on. A mun following a trail by sight certainly has an advautuge over a hound bunting It by nose, because time Is of no particular object to him, and every direction can be tried In turn. After making out cast forward we went and back to the little water-course- , followed that down for some distance, down hoping that the Hon had turned enor-mou- - 1 Roosevelt will invade. T quite unable to move. AH the life in him seemed concentrated In his eyes, which glared at us furiously. Another shot put him out of his misery. The first shot, a very bad one, had grazed the spine Just in front of the withers; another quarter of an Inch higher and it would have missed altc ; i 'er. This Hon was quite maneless, except for a few long hairs on each side of the neck, and his teeth were worn down quite short, so he was evidently very old. He was In very good condition, notwithstanding, but h s stomach was quite empty, which recounted for his going so far before lying up. We had to stop at the main camp for the night when we got there, and did not follow up our camels till the next day. I have described this track rather at length because It Is a good example of many similar days. I shot, but so badly that I wasted seven bullets at different ranges without touching her. The first six did not seem to annoy her at all, but the last hit the ground Just under her teeth, and either the bullet so close, frightened h?r or a stona hit her, for she sprang off with a snarl and a flourish of her tall and, putting on the pace, In a minute or two ran clean away from us. I was terribly disappointed and annoyed with myself, and I thought of course, that everything was over for the day after all this shooting; but Abdullah, who was almost weeping, hardly gave me time to get my wind a little before he rushed me back again. As we ran round the place where we had first seen the lioness, a flue Hon appeared walking slowly out of another thicket towards us. As I shot, he turned and plunged thorugh an opening in the bushes to our right. We ran round an outstanding bush to hend him if he broke out, and met a Hon facing us. Just as I fired I heard a moan to the right, so I was sure it was not the same lion. This one staggered away at the shot and fell stone dead close by. Death of the Jungle Lord. Abdullah called up Jama and the pony boy, and they soon had the hide off and tied on the pony. I thought all the time that Abdullah knew all about the other one, but as he seemed to be going right home, I asked him It we bad not better go and look for It, and be replied that it was the same Hon all the time, and that I had missed it the first shot. I did not feel quite sure about It myself, but the moan in the bushes could only have come from a wounded beast, so I told him we had better go and, look anyway. He evidently thought it was waste of time, but when we got back to where the Hon had been hit we soon found stuie blood, and going quietly down a little path between the irgln" bushes we came round a corner almost on top ot the Hon. He was stone dead. 1 was very pleased at scoring off Abdullah, as he had shown such evident disgust at my shooting. We met one of our party on pur way back to camp, and told him be might run across the lioness If he followed our track back to the place we had come from. An hour after we got back to camp he came galloping up, having seen two !ons, curiously enough both males, .and had shot one with a better mane than either ot mine. I have at another time described a WITH AN ANGRY SNARL. to follow It At that time none ot us knew much about tracking, and we had had such bad luck after the elephants that we did not think much of our shlkarlos, and I did not think it was much good, Abdullah persuaded me and t went After we mi followed the track for some distance I quite caught bis enthuslaum, and when the single track was Joined by three others, I was divided between dellgnt at the prospect of having four Hons all to myself and the thought that perhaps I bad more on my hands than I could manage alone. .After a track of about an hour we and must have been killed Instantly. came in sight of two or three big We could not find any dead hyenas, thickets of "irgln" bushes surrounded or on. sure were that but we pretty by open mimosa scrub ana intersected two must have been hit Ceelug that by narrow My second shikari If the Hons did come to the dtad don- at that timepaths. was a vry tall fellow, would not chance key there je much called Jama, with enormous feet Sevot hitting them on so dark a night, eral times the track Abdullah we pulled the carcass right under the had turned during round to pitch Into him for kertn or fence round the camp, and, such a noise, aid now he conto prevent hyenas dragging It away, making fided to me that "Jama walk all same tied a rope to one ot Its legs, and cow," and that we bad better leave passing It over the fence, fastened it him behind here with the pony and to a heavy water barrel inside the boy, as the Hons were sure to be In camp. We sat up for a bit a id got the place in front ot us. Knowing a few shots at hyenas, and then we nothing about It, I agreed and went went to bed, telling the sentry to keep on with Abdullah. We were walking a sharp lookout and to let us know if along the outsldo of one ot the quietly lions came to the carcass. thickets when Abdullah suddenly Some time after I awoke to find clutched me by the arm and pointed Abdullah bending over me, with my towards a tree standing on the edge ritle In his hand. He wns fruitfully of the bush yards off. The tree was excited, and all I could get out of him divided Into two towards the bottom, was "Lilian, sahib, Ilbah!" Ci.lon, sir, and the sun was throwing the shadow Hon!") Jumping up I rushed out Just of a bush on the ground Inside the as my companion fired two shots Into hollow. This was where Abdullah waa pointthe darkness. The first thing I saw when I got to where he stood was that ing, getting more excited but I could a great piece ot the skerm round the make out nothing at all, until a great had disappeared, leaving a yellow beast moved suddenly out of camp broad gap. I could not for a moment the shadow and slipped away on the think w hat had happened, and then It far side. I fired from the hip, letting struck me that when the carcase had oft both barrels Into the tree. We been dragged away the water barrel rushed round to the other aide of the must have got hitched against the thicket Just In time to see a fine Inside of the Interlaced mimosa lioness come out. I could not get a boughs and the whole lot had gone to- clear shot at once, and when I did, gether. It was frightfully dark out- after running some distance, I was side, and we stood peering out for shaking so that I could not get on her some time without being able to dis- at all, and missed. She kept lobbing tinguish anything; but after a few along Just ahead, every now and then minutes we could hear something stopping to look around and show her tearing at the flesh quite close by. teeth at us. Each time she stopped HE PLUNGED OFF end It was evident that somepoint one could easily command the- side, whole ot it. The Hon was almost cer- thing was attacking our donkeys. It 1 tain to break out ot one ot the sides was pitch dark, and we fir' several ot sound In the direction shots the towards the bush on the banks of the , In which case I should get before we discovered that the attack an easy broadside shot. If we fol- ing beasts were hyenas. We did not lowed the track Into the place, the mind having a donkey killed instannoise we were sure to make would be taneously by .a Hon, but we had not beasts getting very likely to get the beast on his bargained tor the poor mauled by hyenas, so taking a lamp one out at sneak would he and legs, side as we weut In at the other, es- we went out to see what had haphad got off with pecially as the water had left a lot of pened. My donkey dead sticks along tt edges, over a nasty bite In the hollow of the bind which it would b4 Impossible to walk leg above the hock, and we had him taken into tue camp at once. The quietly. Abdullah also said that from the way he had wandered about this other was completely disembowelled river-bed- Hon must b very hungry, and would sleep lightly. These considerations decided us to drive. I posted myself with Abdullah a few yards out from the point, and the other two men. having collected some stones; began throwing them In at the far end. Abdullah was right about this Hon sleeping lightly; for at the first stone there waa a growl and a crash in the bushes and then, for a minute or two, not a sound. The men started to walk down, one on each side, shooting and throw ing In stones. I was watching them, and wondering what had happened to the lion, when there was a faint crackling Just In front of uh. and he appeared at the point of the Island. Although we were stundlng within a few yards of him, and absolutely In the open, he did not see us. He was facing straight towards us. and was so close that 1 did not like to fire at him as, on receiving the bullet, he would be very likely to plunge In the direction he was going and be Into us; nor did I want him to come any closer; so. as he stepped down on to the sanJ. 1 moved my rlflo up towards my shoulder to attract bis atHe saw the movement at tention. once, stopped dead, and turned his head sharply towards us. For the fraction of a second ! thought he was going to be startled Into charging, but he plunged off to the left with an angry snarl at us over his shoulder. Aa be passed I pulled, and he skated along on his stomach and fell down a little ledge In the sand. This slewed him round, and he lay facing us, spread-eagleot the sand, evidently two different methods of hunting Hons. One of them could hardly be called a method at all, as It depended on news brought in by natives as to where a Hon had actually been seen The second plan consisted of tying np a donkey for a bait, and sitting up to watch at night A much more In terestlng way of bunting Hons than either of these and a very success ful one ir the native shlkarles em ployed are any good, Is this process of tracking them. A Hon lies up In some cool, shady place for the day, unless the sky Is overcast and the sun cannot get out, when he will oc casionally be found hunting at any hour. If you can strike his spoor of the night before there Is a very good chance ot following It up to where the Hon lies, should the ground be suitable. There Is no form ot hunt Ing so exciting as this. When the Soor Is found there Is generally nothing to show If you have struck It early or late In the lion's wanderings, so that it Is quite a chance 'whether It leads you for hours over all sorts of country, or whether, after half a mile down on a sandy river bed or path, it turns off into a thick patch ot reeds or bush close by, where the Hon Is lying. It Is extraordinary how the excitement grows as time goes on, and still you keep the track sometimes very slowly, where only now and then part of a footprint can be seen on a soft place between the stones, at other times as fast as you can walk over soil where the track Is visible many yards ahead. And when the spoor Is lost and minute after minute goes by while you cast about vainly In every direction, how wretched you are, nnd how quickly your spirits rise again when a low w histle or snapping of the fingers an nounces that one ot the trackers baa hit It off further on! steal forward until the lion is sighted or ringed in a small clump oi bush. Then, when all Is over, and the b'ln Is being taken off, ho v pleasant it Is to sit in the shade, listening to the excited talk of the natlvas, and let ting your nerves quiet down agala after the hopes and fears of the morn ing. You ride home to camp with the Hon skin behind your saddle, while one of your men after another gives his version of the morning's proceed ings In a hunting song. On the other band, when you get a shot, and miss after a long and difficult track, it seems as if any number ot Hons killed in the future will never make up for the loss of this one, which is alwayB the biggest Hon, carrying the finest mane you have ever seen. The ride home to camp is then a silent one, aa no Hon means no sheep for the men, and they are correspondingly . . The first thing to be done In track ing is to find fresh spoor. Natives will often bring news of spoor, but unluckily the average villager's idea of a fresh track is rather hazy. .1 have several times gone a long way to find at the end a track several days old. On one occasion two natives arrived. Baying there were fresh Hon tracks in a river-bed- , luckily not more that half a mile from camp, but when we got there the fresh Hon tracks turned out to be the spoo.- - of two hy enas, at least a week old. The spoor of the large spotted hyena Is not unlike that of a lioness ou certain ground, but the difference can easily be told, because a hyena has claws like a dog, whereas the retractive claws of a Hon are 8 Ways sheathed and leave no n.rk. The I or I way to find spoor Is to look for it yourself with good trackers. Should there be any villages near camp which Hons have been In the nabit of raiding it Is very necessary to get there as early as possible in the morning. If once the large flocks ot sheep and goats and herds ot camels which have been shut up in the vll- -J lU. all about is a mass of lnd.stlngulsh-abl- e footprints, and everr rath from the village is choked with long strings of beasts going off to their feeding Hitting off a lion's spoor grounds. under these circumstances is almost Impossible, and the dust raised by the herds is very disagreeable. Besides villages, any well In the neighborhood Is a good place to look for spoor. If a lion Is about there ought to be no difficulty In picking up his spoor within a day or two. Baffling Ways of the Jungle Folk. 1 . 1 Rather curious coincidences are sometimes brought to light by spoor. Not very long after the date of the story Just related, one of our party went to a place where two Hons had oeen Billing reguiariy, anu sat up iwo nights for them with a donkey as bait. The lions must have left the district for a day or two while he was there, as there were no fresh tracks to be found anywhere about. The day after he came back to camp I happened to ride out in that direction. Soon after we started we came on the spoor of two lions, which led us along a path till we came, to the shooting zereba. The night after he had left, the Hons had walked over the very spot where his donkey had been tied up in the middle ot the path. A little later, again, I happened to be at a place where he had camped a few days before. A Hon roared near my camp several times in the night, and next morning I heard he had taken a sheep from a village close by. We picked up his spoor in a riverbed near the camp, and after following It for some distance came to some wells. The Hon bad drunk twice, and between the drinks had laid down under the fence of a shooting zereba, which had been made to watch the After drlnk.ng the second water. time be had gone away. Now and then when tracking you come across places where Hons have killed, and if it Is on sand or bare soil, you can tell everything that haa happened almost as well as If you had seen It. We were camped once on the edge of a river-beand thick covert ran right down to the back of the camp. One night there was a tremendous scuffling In these bushes, so In the morning I went out to see what had been going on, and found that two Hons bad been chasing a warthog, which had Just saved Its bacon by getting underground. It must have been a very near thing, as the lions had ploughed great fur. rows In the sand at the mouth ot the hole, showing they bad pulled up pretty sharp. Warthogs generally go to ground when pursued, and as there la no second opening to the burrows, and presumably no chamber at the end where they can turn, they always go in backwards. This has actually been seen by sportsmen who have been riding after them with a spear. I should think this pig can hardly have had the time to do this. Perhaps he got Jammed in head first, as he re fused to be smoked out when we tried tty prmliHlnn of Lonumnns, Green A Co., Nw York. (Copyright, 19u9, by BonJ. D. Hampton.) Agitation regarding the pay ot French military officers has had soma effect, for the nilnlRter of war haa asked for an extraordinary credit of $100,000 to supplement the pay of th officers, which hns not been increased since 1S70. In that time nearly every grade of state official has had his stU pend raised, but the sub lieutenant has had to make both ends meet at best he could with six francs a day and At last certain signs show that you the lieutenant with eight. are getting near the end; the trackers take oft their sandals and tuck up Hospitable. , s under their belts, lest their She And did you enjoy your Afa corner flapping In the wind should rican trip, major! H,ow do you Ilk scare the Hon. For the first time you the lavages? take your rifle from the native who He Oh, tbey were extremely d haa had charge of It, and, with your I They watted to keep ma bead shikari c.irrylng a second rifle, there for aimer. loin-cloth- kind-hearte- |