More Than Conquerors

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1920 Excerpt: ...to his tartan jacket that partly protected him from those cruel teeth and so saved his life. This was, perhaps, his most exciting lion-fight, but the lions were familiar neighbors all the time. In the middle of the night, one old fellow came to the camp and killed a faithful donkey. The sleepers, roused by the commotion, kindled a light by setting fire to the grass. There, in the crackling glow, they saw the great King of Cats, his forepaws buried in the donkey's back, his long mane standing out like a devil's halo, his round eyes glittering with evil triumph. The men fired, but the big lion was too quick for them. He escaped, they supposed, at his usual velvet speed. But in the morning a broad"track of blood told them that he had gone away wounded, and " could only drag himself along." The foot-prints of a second lion, however, cautioned them not to seek his hiding-place. We wonder, when we read stories like these, that Livingstone could keep even for the lions a kind of understanding friendliness. Human enough to see their point of view, he adds to his description of "dripping forests and oozing bogs " "A lion had wandered into this world of water and ant-hills, and roared night and morning, as if very much disgusted. We could sympathize with him." He liked to watch all the different animals. One day a dark green snake glided into his house to look for mice. This is his story of the cat's reception: "Puss approaches very cautiously and strikes her claw into the head with a blow delivered as quick as lightning; then holds the head down with both paws, heedless of the wriggling mass of coils behind it; she then bites the neck and leaves it, looking at the disfigured head as if she knew that there had lain the hidden ...