GIRAFFE AND LIONS, 



251 



upon the withers of the wounded beast, and 

 tried with tremendous efforts to drag her to the 

 ground. Retard, but not stop, the giraffe's progress 

 the assailant was able to do, but not more, and 

 several times it looked as if she would break free, but 

 the hold that the lioness had secured was too firm for 

 such to take place. While this struggle lasted, first 

 one hind foot and then another would be brought into 

 use, and the fearful wounds thus inflicted by their 

 claws were ample proof of the extraordinary power 

 possessed by the limbs of these largest and heaviest 

 representatives of the cat family. But the battle, 

 that had heretofore waged with almost doubtful 

 results, was brought to a rapid conclusion, for a 

 powerful old lion, with another lady, most unex- 

 pectedly appeared upon the scene. "Where they 

 had come from," the narrator said, " goodness only 

 knows, for I had not observed them before, and the 

 ground looked far too bare to secrete a pair of such 

 large brutes ; in fact, it appeared almost as if they had 

 been shot up from the bowels of the earth." But so 

 it is ; it is marvellous how the largest carnivora can 

 secrete themselves. With such odds against the 

 victim, the issue of the assault was not long doubtful. 

 The old mannikin hurled himself upon the giraffe's 

 rump, while the lady that had last put in an appear- 

 ance, by a gigantic spring, got both her paws around 

 the towering neck and her powerful teeth buried in 

 it. Still the unfortunate creature did not resign life 

 without a final effort, made by a succession of the 

 most extraordinary buck jumps, which appeared 

 utterly impossible to accomplish, even if not handi- 

 capped by the conjoined efforts of three mature lions. 

 Such herculean exertions could not be protracted for 

 an indefinite period, so slowly but surely they became 

 reduced, till at length the towering form staggered, 

 and ultimately came down with a crash that almost 

 made the earth tremble. Such was my friend's story, 



