KEPT AT BAY

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 72, 26 March 1931, Page 5

KEPT AT BAY

Meeting a lion when wheeling her t bicycle along a jungle trail in Central ► Africa, a young woman missionary y saved herself by the vigorous use of the cycle bell. Miss Muriel Paynter J tells the store of her escape in a letter y to her mother, who lives in Wolston- £ bury road, Hove (Eng.), portions of [ which have been reprinted in the > "News-Chronicle." She explains that [ when cycling to a village she went j along the wrong track, and by the timo ( she returned to the right one it was j almost dark. :As tree stumps along the | trail make cycling dangerous, she de- } cided to walk. "Suddenly (she wrties) { I heard an awful roar, and the next y minute the. bushes were parted and | there, roaring at me, was a huge lion. J I prayed hard for safety and wondered, y 'What shall I do?' Well, I just | walked on, as I thought running would [ make the beast chase me. I rang the y bicycle bell lustily, thinking and hop- J ing that the noise would scare it, and y on I went, outwardly calm, but in- £ wardly panicky.. The lion kept me > 'scouted' all the time, running along ~ in the bushes roaring. For half an hour [■ I went on. The lion was my solo com- £ panion. Then I heard a shout answering my shout, and saw in the distance £ a light. I called: 'Bun quickly .. . f Lion!' The lion, seeing the light com- y ing nearer, bounded into • the under- £ growth and vanished." Next day Miss ~ Paynter went back along the trail and j< found, not only the tracks of the lion, £ but also those of his mate and—a halt- * eaten pig. j