

EXCITING ADVENTURE. 



to attack than even the lion. But my necessities were 

 great, so I resolved to take the risk. Unless you 

 know the habits of the leopard, to track him in 

 cover is no easy job, for he will not follow a path, 

 like other beasts, but dodge about from bush to 

 rock, with the hope that from the back of each 

 object he gains, he may find himself within spring- 

 ing distance of a desirable prey. Their colour, too, 

 resembles so much that of the ground that it is 

 quite possible that you may pass in close proximity 

 of one without being aware of its presence ; and if 

 you make this mistake, woe betide you, for, the 

 moment your back is turned, the leopard will be on 

 the top of you, when, what between the assailant's 

 activity and the fearful use it makes of its teeth and 

 claws, the man may deem himself fortunate who 

 comes out of such an encounter alive. I discovered 

 that my prey had used for a place of observation 

 the back of a rock that some sand had drifted 

 against, and by the spoor and other indications 

 noticeable on the bare ground it was evident that I 

 had no kitten to deal with, but one of the largest of 

 the race what you Englishmen call a panther, and 

 the Boers a tigre, but leopards, panthers, and tigres 

 are all the same, to my thinking, 



" At the time this adventure occurred to me I 

 had only an old flint roer, and the odds were always 

 about even whether it would go off or not ; in fact, 

 I think the odds were rather the other way, for 



