FROM NAPLES TO THE RED SEA 19 



There was another interesting character on board 

 who caused many of us to stop and think. He 

 was a young British army officer who was mauled by 

 a lioness several months ago in Somaliland. He 

 now walked with a decided limp and was likely to 

 lose his commission in the army because of physical 

 infirmities. He was cheerful, pleasant, and looked 

 hopefully forward to a time when he could have an- 

 other go at a lion. This is the way the thing hap- 

 pened : Last March he was shooting in Somaliland 

 and ran across a lioness. He shot her, but failed to 

 disable her. She immediately charged, chewed up 

 his leg, arm and shoulder, and was then killed by his 

 Somali gunbearer. He was days from any help. He 

 dressed his own wounds and the natives tried to 

 carry him to the nearest settlement. Finally his 

 bandages were exhausted, the natives deserted, and 

 it was only after frightful suffering that he 

 reached help. In three weeks blood poisoning set 

 in, as is usual after the foul teeth of a lion have 

 entered the flesh, and for several months he was 

 close to death. Now he was up and about, cheerful 

 and sunny, but a serious object lesson to the lion 

 hunters bound for the lair of the lion. 



In the smoking-room of the Adolph Woermann 

 was a bronze bust of Mr. Woermann presented by 

 himself. Whether he meant to perpetuate his own 

 memory is not vital to the story. The amusing 

 feature lies in the fact that some irreverent passen- 

 ger, whose soul was dead to the sacredness of art, 

 put a rough slouch hat on Mr. Woermann one 



