XX. 



A LIFE-AND-DEATH STRUGGLE. 



IT isn't often a man can stand at his own 

 drawing-room window and be the interested 

 spectator at a combat of wild beasts, where 

 one antagonist not only conquers, but also 

 fairly devours the other ! Yet such Roman 

 sport I have just this moment been unlucky 

 enough to witness. Unlucky enough, I say, 

 because the victor did not first kill and 

 then eat his victim, as any combatant with 

 a spark of chivalry in his nature would 

 have done, but slowly chewed him up alive 

 before my eyes, with no more consideration 

 for the feelings of the vanquished than 

 if the unfortunate creature had been a 

 vegetable. I don't mean to pretend it was 



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