A RUNNING SHOT. . 359 



jack-in-the-box ! It had the air of having been blown out by the explosion 

 of the rocket, so sudden was its ajDpearance. The startling character of 

 the demonstration against it was certainly sufficient to terrify any wild 

 animal out of its ordinary demeanour ; and with a series of sj)rings and 

 continued roars, the beast made straight for the garden. I stood almost in its 

 path. I had set out in the morning with the usual resolves to be cautious, 

 but it is more easy to make such vows at home than to keep them in the 

 field. Prudent resolutions often vanish under excitement. Whilst awaitino- 



O 



the turning out of the panther I was anxious enough, and pondered within 

 myself whether I should not be safer in a tree ; but when it came bounding 

 towards me I only thought of bagging it by a neat shot. It never saw 

 me, its attention being centred on diving into the garden to escape the 

 awful racket it had just listened to. Its rich, tawny, spotted skin glanced 

 like a race-horse's coat, and contrasted beautifully with the green turf as it 

 flew towards me. The instant it started the beaters stopped their yells, and 

 looked on at the impending event with breathless interest. The panther's 

 roars were the only sound which now broke the stillness. It would, in the 

 course it was taking, pass about fifteen yards to my right. I kept it 

 covered with my rifle from the moment it started ; and when it was just 

 passing me, and about twelve yards distant, I fired. My shot was rather 

 too far forward, however, and merely grazed its chest ; but the left barrel 

 smashed both its shoulder-blades, and the beast alighted heavily on its 

 chest, rolling over with the impetus of its spring. The beaters ran up, and 

 we stood round the beautiful but fierce creature as it lay, biting at the turf 

 and even its own paws in its impotent rage at being unable to rise. We 

 watched it for a few seconds, when I put an end to its sufferings. 



We now went to look for the reported fourth panther, and having found 

 the point in the thicket where it had been last seen, I once more took up 

 my position on foot, in the absence of a suitable tree, and the beat began. 

 No panther, no trace of one, was to be found, however, but a very large wild 

 cat made its appearance. This was evidently what the markers, seeing it 

 indistinctly in the thicket, had mistaken for a panther. I killed it with a 

 bullet. 



I now returned to breakfast with a complacent mind. We had had a 

 capital morning's sport. The arrangements had been perfect ; the shooting 

 had been — ahem ! I will leave my readers to judge ; nothing, even to the 

 cat, had escaped us ; and all this before ten o'clock ! 



People came from adjacent villages to see the three animals, which lay 

 in a row under a tree near my tent. The sight afforded them evident satis- 

 faction, as there was scarcely one of them whose flocks or dogs had not 



