THE EESCUE. 



157 



New hope seemed to come into my heart at these sounds, 

 and I breathed more freely. 



" As the steps approached, the puff-adder moved ; he 

 raised his broad head, not quite two feet from me, and 

 looked in the direction of the new comers ; then dropping 

 down, he glided away through the brushwood. I watched 

 him retire, and saw the leopard lying dead within a yard 

 of me. But now that I was comparatively safe, I could 

 no longer bear my situation, and drawing in a long breath, 

 I sent forth a loud cry. The people were immediately 

 around me, and perceived what had happened, with the 

 exception that the puff-adder had been my bed-fellow. 



" The party consisted of my brother and three Hotten- 

 tots. These men had informed him that they feared 

 something had happened to me, from the fact of my pony 

 returning alone in the evening. The whole party had 

 spoored me from the first kloof to where I lay. The 

 Hottentots, finding the blood-spoor of the wounded 

 leopard, feared that I had attacked him again, and that he 

 had killed me. 



" They carried me on the boughs of trees, which they 

 fastened together with reims,* and at last managed to 

 convey me home. 



" I was three months before I could move out of my 

 bed, and all my friends thought that I should die. 



" Look at my arm i look at my shoulder, where the 

 leopard's claws tore me ; the wounds were given thirteen 

 years ago ; see the scars even now ! " Saying which he 



* Strips of untanned leather. 



