_In which I retail a few extraordinary incidents
occurring in my travel in a mountainous region, with
which the world at large is slightly acquainted,
chief among them being a midnight attack made upon
me by a drove of lions and a race for life on the
back of an ostrich I had hatched in the desert._
THE perusal of the preceding documents had caused me much pleasure and
profit, and I feel sure the reader has been delighted with them; though
I must confess I was very greatly disappointed in them in one essential,
which was, that, while they detailed interesting episodes and neat
little batches of history, they gave me rather a mean idea of my
ancestry, which I had prized most highly as being men of capability and
consequence. Except in a few instances this idea was not borne out by
the documents, as I say, much to my chagrin. I had understood the
marvels they had performed had been thrilling, blood-curdling,
fire-eating, terror-striking, etc., and to find them so exceedingly mild
when compared with my own exploits, which I shall have the pleasure
hereafter to relate, was, as I say again, decidedly humiliating. The
published accounts of my grandfather’s travels led me to believe that
could I get at the real history of the matter there would be food for
the gods, and I had found broth for the invalid.
But be that as it may, there was one part of the papers which caused me
to turn the thought over once or twice in my mind as to visiting the
center of the earth, which I did, and my experiences during that voyage
I will give you at another time.
Suffice it then to say that I ended the trip by being volcanoed out, and
I will recount to you what occurred immediately after my advent.
I was somewhat disturbed upon ascertaining I had landed in a small
clearing in a pine forest at a very high altitude. Had it not been for
the heat caused by the eruption of the volcano I have no doubt I should
have found myself several yards down in a snow-bank. But so hot had the
fire from the crater been the ground was almost too hot to stand upon
and I made haste to find more comfortable quarters.
As I was wending my way through the thick forest I heard a great hissing
behind me, and to my astonishment observed a river of lava rushing after
me at terrific speed. It was of such width I could not run counter and
hope to escape. It so happened that in front of me was an inextricable
mass of fallen timber, pitch pine almost entirely, and upon this I
quickly placed myself. It was so matted together I believe it would have
made a convenient raft upon which to take my ride down the incline.
On came the lava, shooting, spurting along, until it lifted my raft on
its red-hot bosom and bore it swiftly onward, consuming everything else
in its passage.
I soon became aware it was likewise making inroads on my lifeboat, and
the dense volume of smoke which began to rise from it gave me an idea.
My mantle had served me well so far, and I now prepared it with greater
care, and, therefore, obtained better service from it than I had done in
my descent from the sky.
I tied a rope to each corner and it was quickly filled by a mass of
pitchy smoke which was ascending all about me. I had got ready none too
soon, for the heat was beginning to scorch me, as the balloon tugged a
moment at its cargo and slowly rose. To make sure of a trip of
sufficient duration I snatched a number of large pine knots blazing
furiously, and held them beneath my chariot.
I must have presented a weird spectacle to the inhabitants, sailing
through the air suspended by my parachute and surrounded by a ring of
flashing, sputtering, sizzling torchlights. I had quite a comfortable
seat where the ropes crossed, and from this position I selected a
verdant place to disembark, and succeeded remarkably well, for I landed
not only on a nice soft spot, but what was decidedly better, for I was
beastly hungry, at a hunter’s camp, and it had been recently occupied,
for there were standing against a tree several fine Remington rifles and
one Winchester, with full magazines, as I learned.
What then bothered me was the whereabouts of the owners of these fine
articles; but as night was coming on rapidly, I made myself comfortable
for a good sleep.
I cannot tell what hour it was when I was awakened by a frightful
roaring near at hand. Placing my arsenal handy I awaited developments
with expectation, knowing if there was one thing above another at which
I was an expert it was in the use of firearms.
There was not much delay in the operations, for the lions had
undoubtedly been driven from their haunts by the heat from the volcano,
by the light from which I soon discovered an immense drove of fine ones
on the first ridge between me and the lurid mountain. I counted a
hundred, and there were many, very many more—not to say anything about
the cubs. And it was to the presence of these young ones that I
attributed the fierceness of the old ones.
My experienced eye told me they were advancing directly toward me and I
must make ready for them. My knowledge of this game was such I knew my
artillery would be of no power whatever against these rapacious animals
when once they had scented me, which they quickly did.
Now, what I was to do I did with celerity, and it was to ascend a palm
tree and ensconce myself in its branches, taking with me the ropes with
which I had constructed my parachute.
As is usually the case the monarch of the herd led the way and was the
first to come beneath the tree. In following my scent he ran his head
through the noose I had hung down for the purpose. I thereupon gave him
such a sudden and powerful jerk as to break his neck. Another came and I
treated him to a hanging. And so it went until two massive fellows got
their heads in at the same time, and, knowing it would require
additional effort to crack such vertebrae I gave them an extra twist;
but it seems they must have sprung into the air at the exact moment, and
between the force of my arm and the spring of their limbs, they went to
such a height as to pass clear over the tree and, what was worse than
all, carried my noose with them.
There still remained about twenty females and their young, and these
seemed inclined to camp out there and then, which was not at all to my
liking. They must have been almost starved, for they fell upon the
bodies of their lords and masters with a horrible snarling and snapping.
All would probably have been well if I had not in a spirit of wantonness
shot one of the cubs with the only bullet I had brought up, not thinking
I should have occasion to use the firearms at all. This so angered the
mothers they held a council how to get me down. They began to smell
around the guns and I was thunderstruck to see one gray-whiskered old
female take the Winchester between her paws, point it at me, and begin
to fumble for the trigger. I did not lose my presence of mind, and
proceeded to put into execution another plan for ridding myself of these
obnoxious beasts.
My knowledge of ventriloquism did me splendid service. I threw my voice
into a clump of bushes right behind the madam with the gun, which so
startled her she lowered the point of the rifle and while she was
turning around to learn the exact whereabouts of the intruder she
dispatched the piece twelve times in rapid succession, killing a lion at
every crack. Then I threw my voice in such manner as to keep her turning
and by the time she had got back to the starting point she had disposed
of several more.
Then I threw my voice immediately beneath her and gave a terrific yell,
which caused her to bound into the air and discharge her gun as she
went, which happened to be pointed toward the other rifles, and the ball
somehow or other struck in such a manner as to discharge several of
them, one of the balls disposing of her in excellent style, the others
killing the few remaining.
I quickly descended from my perch and captured all the cubs, which I
tied together and fed with the flesh of the dead lions.
In the morning the hunters returned and their astonishment at the havoc
I had wrought among the lions, they could not find an end to their
congratulations. I sold them the young lions for a handsome fortune and
gave them the hides of the old ones, as they were in the employ of some
museums and parks and were out hunting lions for their employers. They
had expected to remain a year and this was their first camp. As they
only desired twenty lions they could now go back at once with their herd
of fifty beautiful cubs.
After they had gone away rejoicing, I laid my course in another
direction which finally brought me to the desert.
Wishing to reach an oasis I pressed on, but night overtaking me I lay
down on a little mound and went to sleep.
I was awakened at the break of day by the approach of a flock of
ostriches coming pellmell toward me. In my hurry to be prepared for them
I disengaged my burning fluid from my pocket, and before I could recover
it some of it had been spilled on the mound. I had barely time to grab
around the neck the young ostrich that was hatched by the heat produced
by my fluid—for it was an ostrich nest on which I had slept.
[Illustration]
This chick must have been pretty well saturated by the fluid for his
growth was prodigious. As he had been born so suddenly, and therefore
was a very newcomer in the neighborhood, he became frightened by the
noise made by the mothers and fathers of the brood and made off with me
on his back, he going at the top of his speed.
I may be pardoned for remarking it was the prettiest race I had ever
witnessed, and I believe now I did a very contemptible thing, though it
did not so appear to me at the time.
The flock was in ripe feather and represented a goodly pile of gold. As
I sped along I concerned myself with the problem of their capture, and I
was not long in formulating a plan.
Having observed the growing effect of the fluid on the chick I spread
some more of it on him. The result was marvelous indeed, for he grew to
such a height it made me dizzy to look upon the flying ground. He
expanded in every direction, and his back became large enough for me to
walk around upon it with comfort.
By dint of exercising some caution I secured a bit in his mouth and was
pleased to find he answered quite readily to the rein.
I then turned him about and made for the flock, which stood in
open-mouthed wonder—for none of them had ever seen such a chick. He so
shook the earth with his tread that it frightened them and they made off
at the top of their speed, which appeared to me quite slow, as I had not
the slightest difficulty in riding down first one and then another and
pulling out the best feathers. This I continued to do until I had a bale
of them many feet square. Then I put them into a frenzy and they
scurried across the sand out of sight. I thereupon stopped my horse and
alighted with my bale of ostrich feathers. Perhaps it was the love of
mother or of father or home, anyhow something, some impulse took
possession of my chick and he trotted away leaving me in the burning
sand. I grabbed at his tail as he started, but only succeeded in getting
fifty or sixty feathers, each about ten feet long and all beautifully
curled.
I was somewhat fatigued and lay down on my bale. When I awoke I was
surrounded by a herd of Arabs, all with their faces in the sand,
muttering exhortations. I spoke in their own tongue, commanding the
shiek to arise. When he had done so I asked him the cause of this
proceeding. He seemed tongue-tied, with hardly strength enough left to
point at the feathers of the young bird.
I asked him what that had to do with it, and after about an hour of
urging, with the greatest difficulty he told me, but he had to turn his
back to the long feathers, for every time his eyes caught sight of them,
he wiggled and twisted, gasped and choked, and would have burrowed his
head in the sand at my feet if I had not made him stand up straight.
He said he had no words to describe his admiration for a man who could
find such feathers. After about another hour he managed to face the
feathers again with composure, though he accomplished it by the exercise
of great care; he turned but an inch at a time, and first took a very
little peek out of the tail of his eye, then one a little larger after
he had got over his spasms, and so on until at last he was fairly
capable of real thought. Then he begged the privilege of hefting one of
them. I handed one to him, whereupon he cried aloud to his followers,
who jumped to their feet and began to sing as he waved the feather
backward and forward. When he had finished he returned it to me most
tenderly and fell upon his face; whereupon the others did likewise.
I again spoke to him, commanding him to rise and command his fellows to
do the same. Then I communicated to them my desire to dispose of my
stock. They could do nothing but look at me and at the long feathers;
not a word did they utter for such a time I became provoked and said if
they did not want to buy to begone.
They shook their heads, saying there was no man among them rich enough
to buy them. I told them to pile up their money in front of me, that I
might know how much they had. I was surprised at the quantity; for it
was considerable—as much as I had any particular use for. I divided the
bale into equal parts, one for each Arab, and asked them if that was a
fair exchange for their money, and I never saw such grinning since I
learned to swim.
There were fifty women in the party, and to each of those I gave a
feather from my feathered horse’s tail, and they took turns in embracing
me—in fact, they kept it up until I was sore from head to foot, for
sometimes there were three or four at it at once, strung along from my
neck to my ankles, and I begged them to desist.
The shiek insisted I should select a wife or two from the lot as a
slight token of his esteem. This kind offer I politely refused, giving
as my reason that I was a man of adventure, and could not very well be
burdened with a wife. At this, one of the most beautiful of the girls
fell to weeping and tearing her hair. I had great difficulty in reducing
her grief sufficiently for her to part with me; but at last, by filling
a water-bag with gold, and presenting it to her, together with the
remainder of the long feathers, I got away.
The Arabs made a pretty sight as they moved across the desert, their
feathers nicely wrapped in tissue paper and waving above their heads.
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