DEATH OF A PANTHER, 



51 



with either small drop, or mould shot. Thus the 

 sportsman can be owner of an arm, possessed of the 

 unusual qualifications of being thoroughly reliable 

 upon either intermediate or small game. In the old 

 muzzle-loading days this was impossible, fc- different 

 boring was required for different- sized niissL , / hence 

 the forte of one gun would obviously be in shooting 

 small shot ; anot^^r when a larger grain was em- 

 ployed. Short barrels were not efficacious with 

 mould shot when the old type of weapon was in 

 vogue, for although with them you obtained ower, 

 it was impossible to get a good target, even a com- 

 paratively short range. But do not let the reader be 

 led away with the impression that such a weapon as 

 I assert can be built, is suitable for stalking red deer, 

 or antelope on large open plains, for it is not, but in 

 wooded kloofs y thick bush veldt, or lofty grrss, where 

 the range is necessarily short, and shooting of neces- 

 sity quick — particularly if in the hands of nervous or 

 unsteady sportsmen — under such circumstances it 

 will prove its superiority. 



I have shot wild boar, bears, deer, and a panther, 

 with buckshot in such positions that the rifle could 

 only be used effectively by an absolute proficient in 

 handling that weapon. Of course, it will be under- 

 stood from this that the ranges were invariably short 

 — say under twenty yards — and death was, with one 

 exception (that of the panther), an immediate result. 

 There were circumstances surrounding the slaying of 

 that beast that accounted for this exceptional occur- 

 rence. I several times sighted small portions of the 

 hide of this anim^al through a thick growth of olean- 

 der bushes, as it passed across my front, but the 

 shrubs grew so densely that I deemed it impossible 

 to take a satisfactory aim. At length it crossed an 

 opening about a foot in diameter. This I availed 

 myself of, but the charge was lodged too far back — a 

 short distance behind the ribs, so made a fearful 

 wound. Death must have supervened in a short 



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