3T0 
THE HYENA. 
square from the king’s house, not many 
hundred yards distant, have I been appre¬ 
hensive that they would bite me in the leg. 
They growled in great numbers about me, 
though I was surrounded by several armed 
men, who seldom passed a night without 
slaughtering several of them. 
“ ‘ One night at Maitcha, being very intent 
upon observations, I heard something pass 
behind me towards the bed, but, on look¬ 
ing round, could perceive nothing. Having 
finished what I was then about, I went out 
of my tent, intending directly to return, 
which I immediately did,—when I observed 
large blue eyes glaring at me in the dark. 
I called upon my servant for a light; and 
there was the hyena standing near the 
head of the bed, with two or three large 
bunches of candles in his mouth. To have 
fired at him, I was in danger of breaking 
up my quadrant or other furniture; and he 
seemed, by holding the candles steady in his 
mouth, to wish for no other prey at that 
time. As his mouth was full and he had 
no claws to tear with, I was not afraid of 
him, but with a pike struck him as near the 
heart as I could judge. It was not till then 
