He Got His Dose.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 3102, 26 September 1899, Page 6

He Got His Dose.

The llama of South America is an expert marksman, though it never uses its craft in the procurement of its food. Only when annoyed ancl angry doe^ it give an exhibition of its wonderful skill in hitting the object aimfed at. The llama's weapon is its mouth ; its bullet is composed of saliva and chewed hay. Several years ago, at the fair grounds in St. Louis, I witnessed an exhibition of this creature's powers of expectoration, in which the victim was a country beau, who came very near losing his sw eet heart thereby. This young man was one of those self-suffi-cient individuals who imagines that knowledge sits enthroned in the tern* pies of their own personal intellects ; "thart what thej- do not know is not worth knowing." He was annoying the llama (the animal 1 stood in the centre of its pen, p'robaoly fifteen feet or more from its tormentor) by throwing clods of dirt at R and by beating on the rails of the pen with his cane. I saw by the creature's actions that lt was angry ; the rapid movements of its jaws indicated that it was preparing to attack its persecutor. I warned the young man, telling him what to expect ; his sweetheart begged him to desist and to come away. But he treated my warning with derision, and told the girl that "he knew his business." Suddenly there came a whizzing, whistling noise, followed by a sharp spat ; the young wiseacre lay supine upon his back, with his eyes and forehead plastered with a disgusting mixture of saliva, hay and mucus. "I hate a fool !" said the girl, as she shouldered her parasol and walked away. I saw them again in the monkeyhouse some time afterward, but the man was a changed being ; ly bad learned his lesson in decorum ; he had been taught modesty by the good ma-rksmanship of n, llama.— James Weir, jr., in Lippincott's.