CARRIED OFF BY A LION.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 145755, 14 February 1917, Page 4

CARRIED OFF BY A LION.

HOW A TROOPER WAS SAVED. A thrilling encounter between a Brit- ’ ish soldier and a lion occurred in “German” East Africa, during the progress of the Fourth South African Horse towards Tabora. Trooper Brighton, according tb ono 1 correspondent, had a remarkable experience. Ho was on picket duty on the.night of September 22, and when relieved turned in for sleep wrapped in his coat and blanket. The sentry, to his horror, saw a huge I lion spring out of the dense bush that surrounded them, seize hold of Brighton, and carry him off. When he had been carried about 10 yards, however, the trooper’s shouts and the shots' fired by the sentry caused the lion to drop his terrified mouthful. 'The trooper by this time was in a fainting condition, and' was carried by his comrades to camp, when Captain MacDonald,-of the S.A.M.C., found that he had made an almost miraculous escape. Wounds and scratches in his back and chest were all the injuries he had received, thanks to the texture of his military overcoat. Brighton’s description of the fetid pair of jaws that seized hint and his sense of impotence in the lion’s clutches is likely to remain a vivid reality to the end of his days. The lion .was evidently an aged forest king that had prowled round the camp previously and attacked an aged mule and some emaciated horses.