The Boy Soldier; Or, Garibaldi's Young Captain — page 315: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE: BOX SOLDIER ; OR; -GARIBALDI’S "YOUNG: CAPTAIN. 309 “ Another; instant,,and,.die would haye,beew in | the lion’s, POWOT ony (f But, strange: to) sayy his. little dog: sayed his life ; for when he perceived the lion, with -elevated tail, -and,,shaking, mane, approaching, he, dashed forward, and. began to,bark,so) furiously, that. the lion, stopped a, moment, as, if jastonished..ab the superlative impudence,, of, shig; egniagsove Cae opponent, .,; 5 RISIOIG EVv.B Bi I9xL »/\Thig moment, sayed Sebaerns s lifes -1... | dog, swith.a, single. blow,of. his, paws and, was,,about to seize the count, when a volley from our, pig pierced the animal,to ithe heart > bed 1002.9 , ‘Jt, was , skinned; upon, the, spot, and the, ‘igidle was, by; unanimous consent, bestowed.on Buttons, whose, bullet, it. was Proved), had done ate most migghieyiy qu zoltu Ieisvo: ott NOG rig hk. ‘proud, was, young. ‘Buttons me his f Ca ee Ey and-several: iacksia on of it. aigonuel sat to _ The next, encounter,we, had with any wild aM mal occurred three days,after,my return ito; camp, pf Alyself, Fatty, Buttons, Caspar, and| Hugh: had whether we,could:not seeretly|build.a.small fort at a..particular, Spots; Whiebs commander. AUllso both hanks,ob the BIKE eq 28) Bus a“ We had, taken. plenty, of food. with UB, ‘and = Efi many, Mexican servants, whom, I thought. svould,be, very; well employed there im nF ORI E = ipesasn works and the like, “Towards, might weumunted, ‘our, “horses, atid trotted along through the moonlight, -gaily chat- ting; and jnever, dreaming that.any, danger, was lurking/in, the jungle, apa thigh: sane thr ele which we had to pass, 791. aid bosiee J aiff We, did. not know ab, that moment, put which aftexyaxds | proyed.te ibe the,case; that we had,been followed, all the, way, (home: Se one; if not) several lions. j 5:15 | lacoz g ot Dats ot. toh ofsiel “ About midnight, howeyen'y Twas: awakened! by atexniblemnoise, which arose| fromthe cattle fold. see}a Wild commotion among the) cattle, who. were scampering, about, bellowing, and lenis over the rail fenee, we had placed around them, ;, ‘‘Fancying that some old wolves, sta Io had heard howling just’ before’I had gone tobed; had gotoin among “and were ‘disturbing ‘the ‘cattle, I SSS ssl ss asa seen went out to have'ashotiat them. «| ‘‘Though the moon shone so brightly, : that: one could read ‘the smallest print-—quite‘a ‘usual thing in'Mexico=-I' could not discover thé slightest traces of either wolves or ‘anything else.” ' ) _ “Next morning; however, some’ of ow Mexieans | missed a bullock; and another-one av mute, | “ But this was notoalle (0°59)! ’ ‘sDhey ‘tracked the lion, bela ratieo veto whiat T have before said) that «we*had ‘been followed over three miles the: previous day by'one or ntore lions’! “Such a state of things*around us, ‘it must’ be _ confessed, was any thing-but pleasant} andwe ileter- mined ‘to:organize'a lion hunt, and go forth onthe work of destroying! all« ‘ the varmint’ we" eae — across,’ is aomode In EO) INNO ¢ of This: peabirittor of ours: owas further oumene by what we heard afew days afterwards from some of the Mexicans weihad left up the'river.°)) 1 “ Two of them returning from hunting aritelopes; which they much, needed. for food, roused:a leopard in a mountain ravine, and because it fled at their approcch, the two silly fellows-were emboldened to follow and attempt to slay it, otek eo For an instant - afterwards, the lion, erushed a dae four..orfivemiles up) the)river, to see: b. SJL aiff Getting mp, ;and,dooking out, 1)could, plainly séizedimy rifle, and; with nothing on but Ba ‘shirt; “The leopard; at first, attempted to escape by clambering up a precipice, but being hotly pursued and wounded,,by. astray, shot, he turned upon his pursuers) with that frantic ferocity peculiaxto this animal in such emergencies, and springing on the man, who.had) fired; at him, he tore him from his horse to,the,gréund, biting him at the same time on the shoulder, and tearing. one of his cheeks se- verely and horribly with his claws. Phe, other, Mexican,,seeing the danger of his comrade, sprang from his horse, and attempted to shoot the leopard through the head. But, whether through fear-of injuring his friend.or not, he missed his aim, “ The leopard, abandoning his prostrate enemy, darted. weve Eedopbied {fury upon his second anta- gonist, . “So fetce antl sudden was the onset, that before the Mexican could,,stab.the ,brute with his long hunting.knife, the; savage beast struck him on the head with his.claws,and actually tore the scalp over his eyes. In) this, frightful position the injured hunter | grappled with his deadly foe, and they both rolled down a.steep declivity, ‘‘ Before the.Mexican who had, been first attacked could start to his feet and. seize his gun, they were rolling, one over, the other, down the steep bank. ‘(Inia moment or twotafterwards, however, this -manrreloaded his rifle and- rushed forward to save the life of his friend. >. Bun bdt was! foo lates | “The: leopard: had mized the unfortunate Mex- ican by, the throat, and,in an, instant mangled him sO drearliully. that, death was inevitable, “ His, comrade,.also;. though wounded, had the melanct: oly satisfaction of completinz the destruc- tion of the savage beast, which, already much ex- hansted from ‘loss, of blood pouring from divers khifé wounds, uttered-a terrible growl, and was ultimately slaughtered by, a bullet from the sur- . vivi ee friend. his leopard’ 3 skin | Batty bought from the Mexican, in order to appear on equal terms with Buttons ; and at. the moment of writing this to you, he is strutting about with his hat cocked on three hairs, a cigar in kis mouth, and his leopard’s skin ‘cloak tr ailing through the camp, “Not, caring to have all_our horses and cattle carried off, I gave orders that every available man should arm. himself—that is if he considered him- self braye ‘enough and, man enough—to go forth in nest of these troublesome visitors. ‘Nearly.all the Mexicans pleaded some excuse on other so.ag,to ayoid, going into danger. ‘‘ Under these circumstances, and in disgust at such cowardice, E called my own Boy Soldiers to- 'gethery:and told them what I wanted to do, and called for volunteers. “Now the» greatidifiiculty was to: prevent all our lads from going, ‘andvin consequence, they had to cast lots:to see who should and who should not be one. of. the. ‘lucky, twenty,’ that being the number I had resolved upon, Towards ,early morning, myself, Caspar, the Connt,. Hugh, Buttons, Fatty, and some fifteen others, started out for a whole week’s hunting, but still not far away from,the river, should the French endeavour. to cross... We were not long upon the road when some Mexicans met us, who directed the way. to.aJarge,rayine where a lion was said to be concealed, ‘J. determined forthwith to,arouse the lord of the forest, and accordingly walked boldly into the SS an QO CoOMmicboooks.c©