LEOPARDS. 75 



except on their summits, would doubtless produce 

 the finest pasturage. As it is now, a wild beast 

 population are almost its sole inhabitants, and for 

 that reason I love it the more ; certainly not the 

 less. Dillon's remark to me showed that he thought 

 very much the same. " Is it the apes you're speak- 

 ing of? Shure they are perfect gentlemen, with 

 genealogical trees as long as your arm, and are far 

 pleasanter company than many folk you'd meet at 

 home. One thing, I'll be bound, they never refuse 

 to pay their rent or sleep with the pigs." 



At the end of my moralising two splendid 

 leopards crossed me on their way to some kloof 

 among the hills ; they were beautiful animals, and 

 had evidently just fed most sumptuously. I thought 

 I could intercept them in their course, but they were 

 far too wide awake. 



While trying to effect this futile attempt a soli- 

 tary shot resounded from some distance off, so I 

 hastened to discover what it told. It indicated what 

 I hoped — the discovery of our lost companion, 

 apparently not much the worse for his night's ex- 

 posure. He, too, had killed an elephant yesterday, 

 and severely wounded another, which he believed 

 could not go far before it dropped. This is always 

 the belief of those who wound big game, although 

 they are nine times out of ten labouring under an 

 error ; so I left my friends to go in search of their 

 missing beasts, while I returned with the majority 



