THE LEOPARD. 



'65 



so formidable a foe, it may be imagined that to meet it on equal terms would be a 

 proceeding fraught with the utmost danger. Yet this is not the case, for there are in- 

 numerable instances of such rencontres, where both parties seemed equally surprised 

 by the meeting, and equally anxious to shorten its duration as much as possible. One 

 of these adventures, which was told me by Captain Drayson, R. A., who had learned 

 the tale from the hero if so he may be called of the narrative, was a most singular 

 one, and one in which was more of peril than is usually the case. 



A Dutch Boer, one of the colonists of Southern Africa was travelling across 

 country, and, permitting the wagons to precede him at their slow uniform pace, amused 

 himself by making a wide detour in search of game. Towards the end of his circuit, 

 and just as he was coining in sight of the wagons in the far distance, he came upon 

 a clump of scattered rocks, from which suddenly leaped no less than seven Leopards. 



THE SEVEN LEOPARDS. 



In the hurry of the moment he acted in a very foolish manner, and fired his single- 

 barrelled gun at the group. Fortunately for himself, the result of the adventure 

 turned out better than he deserved ; for, instead of springing upon the Boer, who was 

 quite at the mercy of so formidable a party, the Leopards only started at the report of 

 the gun, and one or two of them, leaping on their hind legs, clawed at the air as if 

 they were trying to catch the ball as it sang by their ears. 



The illustration is drawn from a sketch made by the narrator of the anecdote. 

 _ In its own country the Leopard is as crafty an animal as our British fox; and being 

 aided by its active limbs and stealthy tread, gains quiet admission into many spots 

 where no less cautious a creature could plant a step without giving the alarm. It is 

 an inveterate chicken-stealer, creeping by night into the hen-roosts, in spite of the 

 watchful dogs that are on their posts as sentinels, and destroying in one fell swoop the 



