CLAKKE'y THEORY, 23 I 
to him I saw he was still breathing, and as he was lying close 
to the edge of a precipice I did not like to fire another shot 
for fear of sending him over. I waited for more than a quarter 
of an hour ; rolled some stones over him, but he did tiot move 
or take any notice of my shouting at him. Still, I did not like 
to go too close to him. At last, as his breathing appeared to 
improve, I took a shot at him wjtli the carbine at about fifteen 
yards, and to my astonishment he jumped up and commenced 
tearing at a tuft of grass with his claws, when I at once settled 
him with a ball in the brain ; he was an old male with his lower 
tusks all broken and worn down, but his skin was very glossy 
and in good order. I could only make him six feet three 
inches from nose to tip of tail. 
One has disappointments when least expected. One 
day when out after game I ought to have killed two leopards, 
but I did not, and this was how it happened. My friend, Tom 
Clarke, a superstitious fellow, would have laid it at once to my 
meeting two hares. I had had rather a long trudge, and had 
gone over a deal of ground only seeing these two hares, 
when I came across a path where a leopard had dragged 
some animal ; following it up, I found the carcass of a calf 
fresh killed with only one leg eaten. Shortly afterwards I 
heard some animals moving in the thick jungle ahead. As 
I expected from the sound, they were bison. I managed to 
knock over a big old bull and a cow, and having cut out 
their tongues and amputated the cow's tail for soup, 1 reached 
the tent between eleven and twelve, and began to think that 
Tom Clarke's theory of the hares was not always correct, 
and that they at times brought good luck. Whether he or I 
was right the sequel will show. Francis was convinced that 
the leopard would not come to the calf after all the firing and 
