With Flashlight and Rifle -* 



of this, and ascertained that the animal could not yet 

 have left it. Then suddenly I spotted the leopard, who 

 was lying on top of a small antelope under the root of a 

 tree which had been washed down by the rain, 



Man and beast espied each other at the same moment. 

 Serpent-like the leopard crept, leaving his prey in the 

 recess, to a corner of the gully, intending to take flight ! 

 Quick as lightning I fired, but aimed too far back and 



~^f d> O 



only wounded him. Almost at the same moment the 

 shouts of my people, who had stayed behind at the 

 entrance to the gully, told me that they had seen the 

 leopard. The animal was bleeding profusely. Cautiously, 

 step by step, 1 crept after him, until I saw him crouching 

 ao'ain where I had fired at him first, and halt hidden 



o 



by some roots. The distance between us was about 

 five-and-twenty paces. The sides ot the gully were 

 steep and hard to climb. 



The moment I raised my rifle again to shoot, the 

 leopard sprang towards me. The next instant he seemed 

 to touch me ! Then in another instant he was gone. He 

 had sprung right back again and disappeared in the 

 gully ! It had all happened in the traction of a second, 

 and I had not time to fire again. It must have been 

 the way we involuntarily drew back I and the two men 

 who were with me that caused the beast suddenly to 

 take to flight. 



I shall never forget this situation, nor the sharp, 

 short snarls uttered by the leopard. Afterwards I tound 

 several drops of blood in the sand, only a tew inches 

 from where I had stood, and my gaiters also were be- 



402 



