152 THE OUT- STATION ; OR, 



CHAPTER XII. 



CONCLUSION. 



READER ! our " Jaunts in the Jungle" are at an 

 end at all events, for the present and their existence 

 would have terminated with the last chapter, had not 

 my publishers "begged to decline the honour of 

 chaperoning such a ninety-nine legged centipede as 

 an eleven Chapter-ed book," whilst my exemplary 

 printer (already worked into a state of desperation by 

 "proof" persecution), intimates "that rather than 

 allow this enfant terrible to issue from his nursery 

 curtailed of its fair proportions, he would (on his 

 honour, as a component part of that mighty engine, 

 6 the press,') incontinently pack up his carpet bag, 

 and undergo a private ' Jaunt' of his own, against 

 any wild animal hitherto invented." 



Under such circumstances (having struggled des- 

 perately, yet vainly, to make the PREFACE do duty 

 for Chapter XII.), I can only constitute you, my 

 excellent Reader (if you have already waded so 

 far), a scapegoat on the present occasion, and making 



