As I previously mentioned, after passing my “Rite of Passage” and becoming a fully accredited member of the Lady Grey pub by standing up to Gerbrandt Cloete, albeit by subterfuge, Gerrie and I became friends – sort of. It was actually fun to chat to him and hear first hand renditions of the legends which had grown up around him and his brothers. The best story in my opinion, was the one that follows.
There were four Cloetes who grew up on the farm Karnmelkspruit. One crosses this mountain stream on the way to Barkly East from Lady Grey. Apart from Gerbrandt, there were Tintie, Neil (aka Hotnot) and one whose name escapes me now (Boysie maybe). The first three brothers mentioned were real hellions who got up to all sorts of mischief. Somewhere along the line, they acquired a male lion cub which they reared on the farm. The cat was quite tame and docile and it grew into a magnificent lion with a huge mane but it eventually became obvious that they could no longer keep it as it could do a lot of damage, even if it was just a little bit boisterous. They then contacted the owner of Boswell’s Circus who agreed to take on the lion and train it for the circus ring. The circus wasn’t touring at the time and was parked somewhere near Springs while being refitted and while new acts were being prepared. So Gerrie, Tintie and Neil got the lion into the back of their station wagon and headed for Springs.
The lion had grown used to being led on a length of string while it was a cub and even when fully grown, still believed that the bit of string fully contained it and would go wherever the string pulled it! The crazy brothers were quite happy with leading an apex predator around on a piece of string because they reasoned he did not KNOW he could easily escape. Need I really add that the brothers were chaps with big thirsts? By the time they got to Springs they had had several stopovers at oases on the plains of the Free State and were all fired up for a bit of mayhem. Need I also add that like Gerrie, they all had a fondness for brawling and were a formidable foe to tackle as a trio?
Before trying to find out where the circus was parked, they decided to fortify themselves in a rather tough pub somewhere in Springs. It didn’t take long for them to pick a fight with some roughneck miners and Gerrie soon realized that they were badly outnumbered and were getting a hiding. In the heat of the battle, he sneaked out to the car and brought out the lion on his bit of string. When they got to the door, the lion, startled by the chaos inside, let out a stentorian roar. WELL!!!
Gerrie said it was incredible how quickly that bunch of drunken miners cleared that pub. Those that couldn’t get through the crush at the door, went through windows and a few even ran upstairs and leaped from the second floor, just to get away. Within seconds there were only the three somewhat battered brothers calmly drinking their dops – even the barman had scarpered. By the time an army of cops arrived, the lion was lying peacefully on the floor, licking its paws while Tintie was behind the bar, serving his two brothers.
When the Cloetes came to town, the whole town soon knew they were there.
I wonder if there are any of those miners still alive and able to remember that “terrifying” night?
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