44 PANTHERS. 



Rissaldar Major,* of the Contingent cavalry all light 

 weights and splendidly mounted we heavier Europeans, 

 on slower horses, could not touch them. Although the 

 first spear had all the glory, those that followed had all the 

 danger, for the panther, being as a rule only slightly 

 wounded, crouched and sprang on every horse that 

 approached him, generally missing the rider, but landing 

 on the horse's hind quarters, and clawing them very 

 severely. 



Thrilling incidents were not unusual ; for instance, the 

 first time the experiment was tried of enlarging a panther, 

 on emerging from the trap he turned round and tackled his 

 emancipator a soldier in my regiment who, however, 

 beat him off till help arrived, when he was driven off, 

 luckily without doing any damage, and was subsequently 

 speared. On another occasion the panther had been 

 slightly speared, and immediately crouched ready to 

 spring ; Captain Way, of the Contingent, then rode at him, 

 but his horse came down, shooting his rider close to the 

 beast, which sprang forward to attack him, but was turned 

 by Colonel Nightingale, the famous tiger shooter, who 

 missed spearing him. I was close behind, and before 

 Nightingale could pull round, the brute was cleverly 

 speared by Lieutenant Warner, 4th Light Cavalry. 

 Immediately afterwards Colonel Nightingale dropped 

 forward in his saddle, as if shot it was an apoplectic 

 stroke, and the poor fellow never recovered consciousness ; 

 he was carried to the Eesidency, and expired in a few 

 hours. 



At another of these functions the cheetah, on being 



* A native officer of field rank a good soldier and sports- 

 man. He had three sons in the regiment, and owned many 

 troop horses in it. 



