A LEGEND OF MADAGASCAR 



I MUST not name the leading personage in this sad story. 

 Though twenty-five years have gone by since he met his 

 fate, there are still those who mourn for him. Could it be 

 supposed that my report would come to the knowledge of 

 two among them, old people dwelling modestly in a small 

 French town, I should not publish it. For they have never 

 heard the truth. Those kindly and thoughtful comrades of 

 Alcide Leboeuf — so to name him — who transmitted the 

 news of his death, described it as an accident. But the 

 French Consul at Tamatave sent a brief statement privately 

 to the late Mr. Cutter, of Great Russell Street, in whose 

 employ Lebceuf was travelling, that he might warn any 

 future collectors. 



M. Leon Humblot has told how he and his brother once 

 entertained six guests at Tamatave ; within twelve months 

 he alone survived. So deadly is that climate. Alcide 

 Lebceuf was one of the six, but he perished by the hand of 

 man. The poor fellow was half English by blood, and 

 wholly English by education. His father, I believe, stuffed 

 birds and sold ' curiosities ' at a small shop in the East End. 

 At an early age the boy took to ' collecting ' as a business. 

 He travelled for Mr. Cutter in various lands, seeking rare 

 birds and insects, and he did his work well, though subject 

 to fits of hard drinking from time to time. 



At the shop in Great Russell Street, after a while, he 



