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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



at him later — putting my sights at 

 seven hundred yards, I placed a bullet 

 in the sand between his legs. 



We returned to camp later in the after- 

 noon and after a little rest and refresh- 

 ment I started out again with only the 

 syce and carrying the necessary tools 

 to get the head of the wart hog that I 

 had shot in the morning. We had no 

 difficulty in finding the place but there 

 was nothing to be seen of the pig. The 

 place was strewn with vulture feathers 

 but surely vultures could not make away 

 with the bones. A crash in the bushes 

 at one side led me in a hurry in that di- 

 rection and a little later I saw my pig's 

 head in the mouth of a hyena traveling 

 up the slope of a ridge out of range. 



We started for camp as the sun was 

 setting. As we came near to the place 

 where I had shot the hyena in the morn- 

 ing it occurred to me that perhaps there 

 might be another hyena about the car- 

 cass and feeling a bit " sore " at the tribe 

 for stealing my wart hog, I thought I 

 might pay off the score by getting a good 

 specimen of a hyena for the collections. 

 The syce led me to the spot but the dead 

 hyena was nowhere in sight. There was 

 the blood where he fell and in the dusk 

 we could make out a trail in the sand 

 where he had been dragged away. 



Advancing a few steps a slight sound 

 attracted my attention and glancing to 

 one side I got a glimpse of a shadowy 

 form going behind a bush. I shot hastily 

 into the bush, and as we started forward 

 the snarl of a leopard warned us of the 

 chances we were taking. We waited 

 a few moments and there was no further 

 demonstration. 



I began looking about for the best 

 way out of it, for I had no desire to try 

 conclusions with a possibly wounded 

 leopard when it was so late in the day 

 that I could not see the sights of my 

 rifle. My intention was to leave it until 



morning and if it had been wounded, 

 there might then be a chance of finding 

 it. I turned to the left to cross to the 

 opposite bank of a deep narrow tug and 

 when there I found that I was on an 

 island where the tug forked and by going 

 along a short distance to the point of 

 the island I would be in position to see 

 behind the bush where the leopard had 

 stopped. 



While peering about I detected the 

 beast crossing the tug some fifteen yards 

 above and foolishly began shooting while 

 I could not see to aim. I could see 

 where the bullets struck as the sand 

 spurted up beyond the leopard. The 

 first two shots went above her, but the 

 third scored. The leopard stopped and 

 I thought she was killed. The syce 

 broke into a song of triumph which was 

 promptly cut short by another song 

 such as only a thoroughly angry leopard 

 is capable of making as it charges. For 

 just a flash I was paralyzed with fear, 

 then came power for action. I worked 

 the bolt of my rifle and was conscious 

 that the magazine was empty. At the 

 same instant I realized that a solid point 

 cartridge rested in the palm of my left 

 hand, one that I had intended as I came 

 up to the dead hyena to replace with 

 soft nose. If I could but escape the 

 leopard until I could get the cartridge 

 into the chamber! 



As she came up the bank on one side 

 of the point of the island, I dropped 

 down the other side and ran about to 

 the point from which she had charged, 

 by which time the cartridge was in place, 

 and I wheeled — to face the leopard in 

 mid-air. The rifle was knocked flying 

 and in its place was eighty pounds of 

 frantic cat. She struck me high in the 

 chest and caught my upper right arm 

 with her mouth, chewing and growling 

 fiercely. With my left hand I caught 

 her throat and tried to wrench my right 



