304 THE AFRICAN LEOPARD. 



leopard, he concluded that the baboons were directing their wrath against 

 one of the stealthy cats in a near-by thicket. He penetrated a few feet 

 into the jungle, when something ahead of him began to move, while the 

 monkeys followed it in the top of the trees. The thicket grew less dense, 

 and he soon found himself on the edge of a ravine, when he saw, about 

 ninety feet ahead of him. a strong leopard dragging along a half-grown 

 baboon. He raised his rifle, but before he could fire th.e beast had dropped 

 the monkey and escaped with a mighty leap into the ravine. 



The leap of the leopard is so swift that it is very hard to hit him when 

 charging or fleeing. It surely is better for the hunter to let the beast ga than 

 merely to wound it. A wounded leopard is a most dangerous enemy when it 

 turns and charges the hunter; its movement, quick as lightning, hardly allows 

 one to take aim. Young Kermit, therefore, fully deserved the praise Mr. Mc- 

 Millan and the proud father bestow^ed upon him for his quick action and 

 presence of mind in his first thrilling adventure with so formidable a foe. 



Another African hunter recounts the following hair-breadth escape from 

 the bloody fangs of a leopard. "On one occasion," he says, "my foolhardi- 

 ness brought me within an inch of losing my life. I noticed in the sand of 

 the steppe the tracks of a leopard dragging its prey. They led me to the high 

 bank of the ravine washed out by rain. I went all around it and found 

 that the animal had not left it. Soon I made out the leopard lying with its 

 prey, a small antelope, in a hole under the roots of a tree. But the beast had 

 noticed me also. Leaving its prey behind, the leopard tried to steal away ; 

 at the same moment I fired. A trail of blood proved that I had hit the ani- 

 mal but not killed it. Going along the high and steep embankment, I noticed 

 the beast cowering, half hidden by the roots of a tree. The distance between 

 us was about seventy-five feet. What happened now was enacted much more 

 quickly -than it takes time to describe it. 



"At the same moment that I raised my rifle to fire a telling shot, the leo- 

 pard leaped towards me cjuick as a flash of lightning. I saw the beast claw- 

 ing the edge of the ravine and almost touching my feet, and felt that there 

 was no escape possible, and no defense either, when the leopard jumped back 

 into the ravine as quickly as it had attacked me. The sight of my two native 

 companions, who put in an appearance near me just at that moment, appar- 

 ently had scared the animal as much as its sudden sight staggered my men. 

 Although I did not lose my presence of mind, I did not have time enough 

 to raise my rifle and to shoot ; it all happened in a few seconds. A few min- 

 utes later a well-aimed shot freed us of all further danger. 



