LION STORY.

Evening Star, Issue 12899, 23 August 1906, Page 5

LION STORY.

Ten years ago, says a writer on East Africa, in the ' Monthly Review,' before the arrival of the railway and the sportsman, the natives were decimated by lions: it was impossible in some districts to procure mailcarriers. Appalling stories aro still related of tho fearless ferocity of these ljeasts. I record one which is perhaps the most remarkable of these, and of unquestioned authenticity. The railway was building 1 at Kiu, several coolies had been carried off by an old lion, and one night Mr Ryan, an English engineer, who had seen much service in India, decided to sit up in a railway carriage on the chance of getting a shot. With him were Mr Huebner, the German Consul, and an Italian, Mr Parenti. The night was dark, with but little moon, and after midnight Mr Ryall commented upon the brightness of the fireflies near the carriage, and also remarked that he had seen a rat repeatedly cross and recross a spot where the steol rail glinted in the moonlight. The recognition would have saved Mr Ryall's life tha,t the supposed fireflies were the luminous eyes of the lion he waited for, and the rat was the slow movement of his tail. Tired of their vigil toward the morning, the three watchers went to sleep, Mr Huebner on the upper berth, the two others below. The carriage was the ordinary sleeping carriage familiar to Indian travellers, with a lavatory beyond the couches. An hour had passed, the party were asleep, when the lion jumped into the carriage and seized Mr Ryall, while in a moment Mr Parenti had slipped into the lavatory and closed the door. The movements of the lion, or more probably his weight thrown one one side, caused the door by which he had entered to slide to; thus Ma- huebner's experience was most terrible. For him no escape was possible; ihe rifles were below, and on the upper berth he remained while the lion killed Mr Ryall within three feet of him. After a few awful minutes the great beast jumped out through the window with the body of Mr Pvyall in its mouth.