The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1886-10-22

made mis- entrance on the right. Ny
end of the jungle was thicker
than Castleton's; but the edge
was fairly clear, and by peering under
the brake, | could see four or
five yards in front of me. Very soon,
the cane and bushes became so dense
that / had to clear away the leaves
with one hand while | held the rifle
ready cooked in the other. We had
each Sepoy accompanying us and
carrying our second weapon, the spear.
To my man gave instructions that
the moment fired, would hand him
back the rifle, and he was to give me
the spear. Of course / kept him be-
hind me, so that he should be in no
danger. We had not begun our adj
vance more than two or three minutes,
and had not penetrated, at our slow
and cautious pace, more than about
twenty yards, when Castleton whlstled.
I at once stood still. After a slight
pause, he called out in sort of
stage whisper: II see him; but it's
nasty shot. L can only see his hind
quarters, and there is lot of Jungle in
bAC W oudIl l. SlOOt.
Fire away replied, in an equally
melodramatic tone. heartily wishing
that his chance had been mine In
abouthalf a minute the report of Castle
toms rifle rang out. Itwas followed
By an angry roar somewhere from my
right front, and there was dead ST.
lence. The smoke from Castleton's
rifle came floating over my head; but
though listened intently with my rifle
half raised to my shoulder, not the
sound of footstep or the cracking of
a twig could hear. At last Castleton
called out: 'I've hit him, but not badly,
| think; and he has gone Off n your
direction
Giving Castleton time to reload, I
again began moving forward with even
greater caution than before, had adj
vanced only few PAGES, when On
pushing aside a screen of leaves thick
er than usual, and thrusting my head
into bush, met sight that made my
heart jump; there, within about six feet
of me, crouched the leopard, his eye
balls glowing like balls of green fire in
the dark jungle, a look of the most
savage mischief on his face, and evil
IDENTIFY just on the point of sprlng,ag
straight at me. My first impulse was
to throw my rifle to my shoulder and
fire at once; but more quickly than
flash of lightning came the conviction,
like living voice speaking in me: eff
you do, and if you don't kill him,
he'll kill YOU My nerves seemed to
grow steady at once, and I checked my
first rash impulse. Then keeping my
eye fixed on his, raised my rifle slow
ly and deliberately, took a steady aim
and fired. A dull groan and a desper-
ate convulsion followed, and then in
half a minute all was still. My faithful
sepoy had duly obeyed my instructions;
he had taken my rifle and had given
me the spear, and with this spear held
at the charge, ready to receive the
leopard if he came my way, we waited
until the CONFUSION subsidized. Then
peering in again, we found that the
leopard had gone back; and it was not
until we had advanced some ten yards
that we came upon him lying dead. 1t
shows the marvellous vitality of the feline
race; for though the ball was a heavy
one, and had crashed right through the
brain, yet he had managed to go fully
eight yards from where he was crouch
ing. Had the ball been turned aside at
all by twig, or mad it glanced off his
skull, he would almost certainly have
made his spring, and in a jungle SO
dense / could hardly have hoped to
keep him off or defend myself.
| called up Castleton at once, and
we soon pulled the leopard out of the
thicket We found that Castleton's bull
let had hit him in the side, but far back,
so as not to interfere in any way with
his powers of attack. / congratulated
myself on lucky escape. The villagers
were delighted at the death of robber
which had more than once laid their
t1ocks under contribution, and pressed
their services on us to carry him home.
A procession was soon formed, and we
returned to Julbarri in triumph with
the leopard swung on a pole in front
OF US. The other hunters had not re-
turned; so we had ample time to ex-
hibit our prize to the sympathetic eyes
of Mrs. Castleton and Miss Jervoise.
In about an hour, the others returned,
wearied and disguised. The tigers had
been disturbed before their arrival, and
betaken themselves to some very heavy
jungle, whence, in spite of their best
efforts, they were unable to dislodge
them. 1t required a lot of good feel
ing on their part to make them con-
graduate us as heartily as they did;
and hope our sympathy with their i'll
luck showed itself quite untinged with
any sense of our own better fortune
Chambers Journal.