152 HENDRICK AND THE LEOPARD. 



The relator of the story, who was called Hendrick, was a 

 short dark man, but had plenty of sinews, and a look of 

 determination about the eye and lip, evidently showing 

 that upon occasion he could make good his words by 

 deeds. He was asked to tell me the story, and did not 

 appear at all unwilling to comply with the request : 



({ When I was a youngster about seventeen, I was 

 staying at the house of a neighbour, who had suffered 

 from the visits of a leopard, which had killed nearly 

 twenty chickens during two nights. No one at the house 

 was much of a shot, and they did not like meddling with 

 this fellow. Now, for reasons of my own, I wanted to 

 shoot him." 



" Tell the truth, Hendrick ; you wanted to show the 

 pretty Katrine you were a man," said one of the party. 



" Well, I did wish it," said Hendrick ; " so I started 

 one morning quite early, without telling any one what I 

 was going to do; and mounting my pony, I rode to a 

 kloof about four miles off, where I knew the chicken- 

 killer would most probably be found. My gun was only 

 a single-barrelled, but I did not care much for that. 



" I went down the ravine on foot, and looked all about 

 for spoor. When I had walked some distance in the 

 kloof and amongst some trees, I found the remains of a 

 buck partly eaten. I saw that it had been seized by the 

 neck, and therefore knew that a leopard had killed it, a 

 hysena or wolf generally seizing by the flank. I looked 

 carefully all round, but could see nothing of the leopard ; 

 but at last I happened to look up in the trees, and there 

 he was leaning over a large branch and eyeing me most 



