152 Wild Beasts 



so. . . . As may be supposed, the panther did not spend 

 much time investigating the nature of a wadded hat- 

 cover, and before my friend could get round, and fire 

 without jeopardizing my life, the beast pounced upon my 

 left elbow, taking a piece out, and then buried its long, 

 sharp fangs in the joint till they met. At the same time 

 I was hurled to the earth with such violence that I knew 

 not how I got there, or what had become of my gun. 

 I was lying on the ground with the panther on top of me, 

 and could feel my elbow joint wobbling in and out as 

 the beast ground its jaws with a movement imperceptible 

 to the bystanders, but which felt to me as if I were being 

 violently shaken all over. Now I listened anxiously for 

 the sound of Sandford's rifle, which I knew would be 

 heard immediately, and carefully refrained from making 

 the slightest sound or movement, lest his aim should be 

 disturbed. In a few seconds the loud and welcome 

 detonation, which from its proximity almost deafened me, 

 struck upon my ear, and I sat up. I was free, and the 

 panther had gone " — bounded away shot through the 

 body with a heavy rifle ball, into an acacia and karinda 

 thicket, from which it had to be driven by rockets. 



"Just as the interior of the thicket became lighted up, 

 and the crackling of the herbage was at its loudest, the 

 animal roused to frenzy, by the overwhelming character of 

 the attack, girded itself up for a last desperate effort. . . . 

 It rushed from its now untenable hiding-place, swift and 

 straight as an arrow upon Sandford and myself. He fired 

 both barrels at the beast without stopping it in the least." 

 The Colonel, whose wounded arm had been bound up, now 



