The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1908-06-24
BY MARK F. WILCOX.


He was big and fat, too, or at least
he appeared so; but those who had
had occasion to feel the grip OF his
fingers said that the plump flesh was
made of corded steel; and no one in
our little South African school cared
to pick quarrel with him.
He was a good-natured young
giant, though, and rarely did we ever
see him in passion; but then, as the
saying goes, he saw blood. One of
those times was when he fought the
leopard.
There were four of us, all stout,
country youths of English or
Dutch parentage, Piet Joubert, David
Saalfield, John Gebers and myself,
out for a Saturday holiday, bird
shooting in the bush on Swartz Kop, a
broad, fat-topped hill five miles from
town. No one of us carried a gun;
for, in the first place, we could not
afford it, and in the second, there was
vastly more sport for us and more
chance for The birds in using sling
shots.
None of your factory-made elastics
buttoned on a cast-iron prong were
these; but thick, tough, genuine rub
ber in round red or gray cords the
size of lead-pencil, which we bought
by the foot for ninepence, cut into
halves, equipped with leather thongs
and pouch big enough to hold
acorns and fastened to stout
wooden prong on which was carved
in little notches the record of the
game killed.
We were after rock-pigeon that
afternoon, among the squat mimosa
shrubs on the undulating hilltop,
which was nothing more than huge
block OF granite with precipices on
all sides except the one toward the
school, where steep, although con-
tinuous, slope led to the summit. In
the excitement of the chase we wan
dered over the two square miles Of
table-land, until on the side farthest
from town, we entered the thickest
part of the bush and became sep
arated.
Still, we kept fairly close together,
for when -Piet shouted we all heard
him; but we all mistook 1t for the
cry he usually made after a success
ful shot, and we paid no further at
tention to him. 1t was only when
John Gebers happened to stumble on
him, about ten minutes later, and
raised continued outcry that we
discovered anything out of the or
dinary
David and found John, with a
bloody nose, sparring with a wild,
sheveled-looking man, whom, all
tatters and gore, we hardly recog-
nized as Piet Joubert
IVY not you comes ven l calls!" he
roared, and made furiously at us.
Finally, by united opposition, we
managed to pound him into tame
ness and nationality, so that he was
able. in his quaint Dutch dialect, to
tell us of his experience.
cannot begin to do justice to that
phraseology and the characteristic
gestures that accompanied it; but
perhaps it will prove almost as in
teresting If tell the story in plain,
straightforward English.
He had been crawling across a
bare, stony spot near the brow of the
hill in order to get within firing dis
tance of three brown birds in shrub
when, suddenly and without the
slightest warning, one of those small
South African leopards, now so rare
among the colonies, and yet all the
more dangerous because of their in
creased wariness and stealth, ap-
peared, climbing over the edge of the
cliff.
The surprise was mutual, for a
fresh breeze blowing in over the hill
had prevented the animal from catch.
Ing the human scent. 1t drew back
at first, showing it's teeth and splitting
as any cat will do when cornered
But 1T was evidently misled by the
appearance of human being crawl.
Ing on all fours. or maddened by hun.
ger: for instead of retreating whence
1t cames it made ready, all at once
for an attack.
Piet understood the sudden, men
acing fiattening of the 1.-the body or
the bare rock, and countered with 8
swift snap of his already loaded sling
He never knew where he hit the
beast, but the effect was astounding.
With hideous snarl, like the tear
ing of canvas, 1t came swift as a bull
let at him. His sling was lost, hi,
bent arms were thrown against hi,
sides. and there was the chunky
warm body of the animal righ
against his chest before he eoult
wink!
He mad risen to his knees to max,
the shot, and the impetus of the at
tack threw him back upon his hams
but with tremendous effort he wa
able to keep himself from going owe
completely on his back. The beas