moment for reflection; my piece was only charged with swan-shot,
and I had no other about me. However, though I could have no idea
of killing such an animal with that weak kind of ammunition, yet I
had some hopes of frightening him by the report, and perhaps of
wounding him also. I immediately let fly, without waiting till he
was within reach; and the report did but enrage him, for he now
quickened his pace and seemed to approach me full speed. I
attempted to escape, but that only added (if an addition could be
made) to my distress; for the moment I turned about I found a
large crocodile, with his mouth extended almost ready to receive
me. On my right hand was the piece of water before mentioned, and
on my left a deep precipice, said to have, as I have since
learned, a receptacle at the bottom for venomous creatures; in
short, I gave myself up as lost, for the lion was now upon his
hind legs, just in the act of seizing me. I fell involuntarily to
the ground with fear, and, as it afterward appeared, he sprang
over me. I lay some time in a situation which no language can
describe, expecting to feel his teeth or talons in some part of me
every moment. After waiting in this prostrate situation a few
seconds, I heard a violent but unusual noise, differing from any
sound that had ever before assailed my ears; nor is it at all to
be wondered at, when I inform you from whence it proceeded.
After listening for some time, I ventured to raise my head and
look round, when, to my unspeakable joy, I perceived the lion had,
by the eagerness with which he sprang at me, jumped forward, as I
fell, into the crocodile's mouth! which, as before observed, was
wide open; the head of the one stuck in the throat of the other,
and they were struggling to extricate themselves. I fortunately
recollected my hunting knife which was by my side; with this
instrument I severed the lion's head at one blow, and the body
fell at my feet! I then, with the butt-end of my fowling-piece,
rammed the head farther into the throat of the crocodile, and
destroyed him, by suffocation, for he could neither gorge nor
eject it.
Soon after I had thus gained a complete victory over my two
powerful adversaries, my companion arrived in search of me; for
finding I did not follow him into the wood, he returned,
apprehending I had lost my way or met with some accident.
After mutual congratulations we measured the crocodile, which was
just forty feet in length.
CROSSING THE THAMES WITHOUT THE AID OF BRIDGE, BOAT OR BALLOON
By R. E. Raspe
My first visit to England was about the beginning of George the
Third's reign. I had occasion to go down to Wapping to see some
goods shipped, which I was sending to some friends at Hamburgh:
after that business was over, I took the Tower Wharf in my way
back. Here I found the sun very powerful, and I was so much
fatigued that I stepped into one of the cannon to compose me,
where I fell fast asleep.
This was about noon; it was the fourth of June, the king's
birthday. Exactly at one o'clock these cannon were all discharged
in memory of the day they had been all charged that morning, and
having no suspicion of my situation, I was shot over the houses on
the opposite side of the river, into a farmer's yard, between
Bermondsey and Deptford, where I fell upon a large haystack
without waking, and continued there in a sound sleep till hay
became so extravagantly dear (which was about three months after),
that the farmer found it to his interest to send his whole stock
to market. The stack I was reposing on was the largest in the
yard, containing about five hundred load; they began to cut that
first. I waked (with the voices of the people who had ascended the
ladders to begin at the top) and got up, totally ignorant of my
situation. In attempting to run away, I fell upon the farmer to
whom the hay belonged, and broke his neck, yet received no injury
myself! I afterwards found, to my great consolation, that this
fellow was a most detestable character, always keeping the produce
of his grounds for extravagant markets.
TWO STRANGE ADVENTURES IN RUSSIA
By R. E. Raspe
I set off from Rome on a journey to Russia, in the midst of
winter, from a just notion that frost and snow must, of course,
mend the roads, which every traveller had described as uncommonly
bad through the northern parts of Germany, Poland, Courland, and
Livonia. I went on horseback as the most convenient manner of
travelling; I was but lightly clothed, and of this I felt the
inconvenience the more I advanced northeast. What must not a poor
old man have suffered in that severe weather and climate, whom I
saw on a bleak common in Poland, lying on the road, helpless,
shivering and hardly having wherewithal to cover his nakedness? I
pitied the poor soul; though I felt the severity of the air
myself, I threw my mantle over him, and immediately I heard a
voice from the heavens, blessing me for that piece of charity,
saying: "You will be rewarded, my son, in time."
I went on: night and darkness overtook me. No village was to be
seen. The country was covered with snow and I was unacquainted
with the road.
Tired, I alighted and fastened my horse to something, like a
pointed stump of a tree, which appeared above the snow. For the
sake of safety, I placed my pistols under my arm and lay down on
the snow, where I slept so soundly that I did not open my eyes
till full daylight. It is not easy to conceive my astonishment to
find myself in the midst of a village, lying in a church-yard, nor
was my horse to be seen, but I heard him soon after neigh
somewhere above me. On looking upwards, I beheld him hanging by
his bridle to the weathercock of the steeple. Matters were now
very plain to me: the village had been covered with snow
overnight; a sudden change of weather had taken place; I had sunk
down to the church-yard whilst asleep, gently, and in the same
proportion as the snow had melted away; and what in the dark I had
taken to be a stump of a little tree appearing above the snow, to
which I had tied my horse, proved to have been the cross or
weathercock of the steeple!
Without long consideration I took one of my pistols, shot the
bridle in two, brought down the horse, and proceeded on my
journey. He carried me well. Advancing into the interior parts of
Russia, I found travelling on horseback rather unfashionable in
winter, so I submitted, as I always do, to the custom of the
country, took a single horse sledge, and drove towards St.
Petersburg.
I do not exactly recollect whether it was Eastland or Jugemanland,
but I remember that in the midst of a dreary forest I spied a
terrible wolf making after me with all the speed of ravenous
winter hunger. He soon overtook me; there was no possibility of
escape. Mechanically I laid myself down flat in the sledge, and
let my horse run for our safety. What I wished, but hardly hoped
or expected, happened immediately after. The wolf did not mind me
in the least, but took a leap over me, and falling furiously on
the horse, began instantly to tear and devour the hind part of the
poor animal, which ran the faster for his pain and terror. Thus
unnoticed and safe myself, I lifted my head slyly up, and with
horror I beheld that the wolf had ate his way into the horse's
body. It was not long before he had fairly forced himself into it,
when I took my advantage and fell upon him with the butt-end of my
whip. This unexpected attack in his rear frightened him so much
that he leapt forward with all his might, the horse's carcass
dropped on the ground, but in his place the wolf was in the
harness, and I on my part whipping him continually, we both
arrived in full career safe at St. Petersburg, contrary to our
respective expectations, and very much to the astonishment of the
spectators.
SHOOTING A STAG WITH CHERRY-STONES
By R. E. Raspe
You have heard, I dare say, of the hunter and sportsman's saint
and protector, St. Hubert, and of the noble stag which appeared to
him in the forest with the holy cross between his antlers. I have
paid my homage to that saint every year in good fellowship, and
seen this stag a thousand times, either painted in churches or
embroidered in the stars of his knights; so that, upon the honor
and conscience of a good sportsman, I hardly know whether there
may not have been formerly, or whether there are not such crossed
stags even at this present day. But let me now relate that which
happened to myself some little time ago.
I had been out shooting all day, and had quite expended my powder
and shot, when I found myself unexpectedly in presence of a
stately stag, looking at me as unconcernedly as if he had known of
my empty pouches. I charged immediately with powder, and upon it a
good handful of cherrystones, for I had sucked the fruit as far as
the hurry would permit. Thus I let fly at him, and hit him just on
the middle of the forehead, between his antlers; it stunned him--
he staggered--yet he made off, and I lost sight of him, to my
chagrin.
This happened to me in France. Afterwards I visited Russia, and
remained there for about a year.
At length, there being no immediate prospect of war with Turkey, I
returned to France on leave for a few months, and was staying in
the same chateau as I had been when I had fired off this
remarkable charge.
We hunted again in the fine forest I had then traversed, with a
gay party of French nobles and sportsmen. I had separated myself
somewhat from my companions, when, in the opening of a beautiful
glade, I beheld a noble stag, with a fine full-grown cherry-tree
above ten feet high between his antlers.
I immediately recollected my former adventure, looked upon him as
my property, and brought him to the ground by one shot, which at
once gave me the haunch and cherry sauce, for the tree was covered
with the richest fruit, the like of which I had never tasted
before.
THE BARON'S WONDERFUL DOG
By R. E. Raspe
I had married a lady of great beauty, who, having heard of my
sporting exploits, desired, a short time after our marriage, to go
out with me on a shooting expedition. I went on in front to start
something, and I soon saw my dog stop before several hundred
coveys of partridges. I waited for my wife, who was following me
with my lieutenant and a servant. I waited a long time; nobody
came.
At length, very uneasy, I went back, and, when I was half-way to
the place where I had left my wife, I heard lamentable groans.
They seemed quite near, and yet I could see no trace of a human
being. I jumped off my horse; I put my ear to the ground, and not
only heard the groans distinctly rising from beneath, but my
wife's voice and those of my lieutenant and servant.
I remarked at the same time, not far from the spot, the shaft of a
coal-pit, and I had no doubt that my wife and her unfortunate
companions had been swallowed up in it. I rode full speed to the
nearest village to fetch the miners, who after great efforts
succeeded in drawing the unfortunate individuals buried in the
pit--which measured ninety feet--to the surface.
They first drew up the man-servant; then his horse; next the
lieutenant; next his horse; and at length my wife on her little
palfrey. The most curious part of this affair was that, in spite
of the awful depth to which they had fallen, no one was hurt, not
even the horses, if we except a few slight contusions. But they
had had a terrible fright, and were quite unable to pursue our
intended sport.
In all this confusion I quite forgot my setter, as no doubt you
also have.
The next day I was obliged to go away on duty, and did not return
home for a fortnight. On my return I asked for Diana, my setter.
No one knew anything about her. My servants thought she had
followed me. She was certainly lost, and I never hoped to see her
again! At length a bright idea occurred to me:
"She is perhaps still watching the partridges."
I hastened, full of hope and joy, to the spot, and actually there
she was!--my noble Diana--on the very place where I had left her a
fortnight before.
"Hi, Diana!" I cried. "Seize them!"
She instantly sprang the partridges; they rose, and I killed
twenty-five at one shot. But the poor beast had scarcely strength
enough to follow me, she was so thin and famished. I was obliged
to carry her back to the house on my horse, where rest, feeding,
and great care soon restored her to health.
I was thoroughly glad to get her back again.