The Leopard and Panther 153 



carried a hog spear. " We had only time," he says, " to 

 open out one pace from each other, and the momentum 

 with which the animal was coming, almost carried it past 

 us. As it brushed my right leg, however, I saw it twist 

 its supple neck, and literally stop itself by clasping Sand- 

 ford's thigh in its extended jaws, bearing him to the 

 ground, where they lay for a moment in a close embrace. 

 I at once adjusted my spear behind the animal's shoulder, 

 and with a steady thrust drove it straight through the 

 heart. Franks fired at the same instant, and it would be 

 difficult to say which of us caused the panther to give up 

 his last breath. It was dead though, yet it still retained 

 the position it had in life, and its teeth were so firmly 

 locked in the flesh of its foe, that I could not open 

 the jaws with one hand — they felt like iron to the 

 touch." 



There are a number of narratives of like import with 

 this, but neither in these, nor in the accounts we have of 

 conflicts with other wild beasts, has anything been said 

 concerning the principle upon which they fight. Briefly, 

 no brute deliberately engages in conflict without thinking 

 that the advantage is altogether on its own side. They 

 may be, and often are, mistaken, but brutes never fight 

 fairly with intention. Only man does that, civilized not 

 savage man, whose motives are such as other creatures 

 know nothing about. 



Inglis ("Work and Sport on the Nepaul Frontier") re- 

 lates an experience of his own with a leopard — it may as 

 like as not have been what is here called a panther — that in- 

 cludes a good many points which have been touched upon, 



