220 



CLOSE QUARTERS. 



and they often lie crouched on a low branch ready to drop on 

 some unlucky deer or wild hog that may pass under it. 

 Coming home one day from shooting in the bush I noticed at 

 the foot of a tree some very fresh rootings of wild hog and 

 said to my man, there must be a pig about here. As I 

 spoke I heard a rustle in the leaves above me, and the next 

 moment a leopard's head appeared level with mine on the 





ft , 



/ COULD HAVE SLAPPED ITS FACE. 



stem of the tree. It was so close I could have slapped 

 its face, but before I could get my rifle to the shoulder he 

 Was on the ground and hidden by the jungle. Their tenacity 

 of life is very great ; I have known a leopard after remaining 

 as if dead for more than half an hour, spring up and tear 

 up the grass all round him. On one occasion after knocking 



