The enterprise-recorder. (Madison, Fla.) 1908-1933, 1908-07-23
By MARKE WILCOX.


cheeks, Piet Joubert was not what
you would call pugnacious looking,
He was big and fat, too, or at least
he appeared so; but those who had
had occasion to feel the grip OF bis
fingers said that the plump flesh was
made of corded steel; and no one in
our little South African school cared
to pick a 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-bred youths Of English or
Dutch parentage, Piet Joubert, David
Saalheld, John Gebers and myself,
out for a Saturday holiday, bird
shooting in the bush on Swartz Kop,
broad, fist-topped hill FIVE miles from
town. No one of us carried a gun;
for, in the first place, we could not
AFFORD 1t, and in the second, there was
vastly more sport for us and more
chance for The birds in using sling
shots. t----s.,i -sF
None OF your factory-made elastlcs
buttoned on a cast-iron prong were
these; but thick, tough, genuine rub
Der 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 10 hold
acorns and fastened to n stout
wooden prong on which was carved
in little notches the record Of the
game killed.
We we're after roek-pigeon that
afternoon, among the squat mimosa
shrubs on the unduIating hilltop,
which was nothing more than a huge
block Of granite with precipices on
all sides except the one toward the
school, where a 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 it for the
cry he usually made after a success
full shot, and we paid no further at
tentlon to him It was only when
John Gebers happened to stumble on
him, about ten minutes later, and
raised continued cutlery that we
discovered anything out of the or
binary
David and found John, with
bloody muse, sparring with a wild,
dishevsled-looking man, whom. all
tattefs and gore, we hardly reeog-
mixed as Plet Joubert.
@Vy not you comes ven I 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
phraseceogy and the characteristic
gestures that accompanied Il; but
perhaps It will prove almost as in
teresting IL l 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
lance OF three brown birds in a 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, APP
peared, climbing owe. the edge OF the
cliR.
The surprise was mutual, for a
fresh breeze blowing in over the hill.
had prevented the animal from cntch-
ing the human scent 1t drew back
at first. showing Its teeth and splitting
Is any cat viii do when cornered
But it was evidently misled by the
APPEARANCE Of a human being crawl
ing on an tours, OF maddened BY hum
ger. for instead Of retreating whence
81 came. Il made ready. all At once.
for an attack.
Pet understood the sudden, mem
acing dattening OF the 1.-THE body on
the bare rock. and countered with a
swift snap Of his already loaded sling.
lie n6vcs knew where he bat the
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