THE SEVEN LEOPARDS. 
formidable a foe, it may be imagined that to meet it on equal terms would be a proceeding 
fraught with the utmost danger. Yet this is not the case, for there are innumerable 
instances of such rencontres, where both parties seemed equally surprised by the meeting, 
and equally anxious to shorten its duration as much as possible. One of these ad- 
ventures, which was told me by Captain Drayson, R.A., who had learned the tale from the 
hero—if so he may be called—of the narrative, was a most singular one, and one in which 
was more of peril than is usually the case. 
A Dutch Boer,—one of the colonists of Southern Africa—was travelling across country, 
and, permitting the waggons to precede him at their slow uniform pace, amused himself 
by making a wide detour in search of game. Towards the end of his circuit, and just as 
he was coming in sight of the waggons in the far distance, he came upon a clump of 
scattered rocks, from which suddenly leaped no less than seven Leopards. In the hurry 
of the moment he acted in a very foolish manner, and fired his single-barrelled gun at 
the group. Fortunately for himself, the result of the adventure turned out better than he 
deserved ; for, instead of springing upon the Boer, who was quite at the mercy of so 
formidable a party, the Leopards only started at the report of the gun, and one or two of 
them, leaping on their hind legs, clawed at the air as if they were trying to catch the ball 
as it sang by their ears. 
The illustration is drawn from a sketch made by the narrator of the anecdote. 
In its own country the Leopard is as crafty an animal as our British fox; and being 
aided by-its active limbs and stealthy tread, gains quiet admission into many spots where 
no less cautious a creature could plant a step without giving the alarm. Itis an inveterate 
chicken-stealer, creeping by night into the hen-roosts, in spite of the watchful dogs that 
