The Lamar register., 1909-06-02

tend to them at once I might los1
him: I therefore carried him back to
camp and washed, stitched, and
dressed his wounds. returned after.
wards, to try and follow the leopard.
but could not find any further trace
of him, except blood marks. I there
fore went and skinned the other two.
and made up my mind to leave the
cub had wounded until the morrow.
tracked him up next day and found
him dead about a quarter of q mile
from where l had fired at him.
This reminds me of an escapade ]
had with one of these creatures some
time previously. further south. As
is SO frequently the case, had been
much disturbed during the night by
prowling animals. which l found out
were leopards. l was exasperated by
the loss OF my best dog. and made
up my mind. II possible. to get fine
skin and avenge his death at one and
the same time; SO making a hurried
breakfast, and leaving my two Kafir
boys In charge of the skerm. set
out with the only dog I now had left.
The spoor. which was plain enough
in the sand. led right away towards
the river, which on either side Is bor-
dered for a quarter Of a mile or SO
with "wait-a-bit" thorns and under
brush. After going mile or more my
dog showed special eaEerness, and
pulled up at tree. the bark of which
was all scored by the claws of leop-
ards and was evidently used by them
continually for stretching their talons.
A lot of porcupine quilts also lay
around. showing that the leopard had
recently made q meal, of which ! was
glad. for I thought I should be more
likely to ind him lazy and lying up.
and hence easier to manage. A little
further ON came to kloof or ravinaI
which l had to descend and ascend.
Attacked by the Savage Beast.
Before ] reached the top. the dog
began barking and hurried on. AZ
for l did not want to lose my only
remaining dog. He. however. came
yelpipg back. Just as l gained the top
of the bank. and at the same time I
caught sight of the leopard, which was
making across the open for a patch
of thorns q couple of hundred yards
distant. I was somewhat out Of
breath from scrambling over the un-
even ground. but. taking as careful
aim as l could. fired. l knew l had
hit him all right, even II he had not
stopped and bitten at the wound, but
the shot was too far back as well as
too low. At the same instant he
caught sight OF me. whilst I, not relish
Ing his looks. hastily pushed In an
other cartridge. I had not my trusty
Winchester" then, or the leopard
would not have served me as he did.
The weapon I was using was a con-
verted Enfield carbine. which, though
a splendid shooter. only took one shell
and required Gaping. l could not get
the cap on before he was upon me.
and over we both went In a heap-I
undermost. He got my left arm be-
tween his teeth. and could feel his
fangs crunching. but I seized my long
hunting knife. and managed to get It
under his chin and gave a frantic
cash which almost cut his head OF.
In the meantime my dog had re-
gained his composure; since he had
seen two of his comrades hattened
out by leopards he had often turned
tail. but he was very useful in track
ing them. I had rolled the skin up
and was Just about starting back for
camp. when the dog again attracted
my attention, acting as though he had
picked up fresh scent; and although
l felt pretty sick. still l could not re-
sist the temptation and followed him.
first of all hanging up the skin on
thorn bush. The dog held on and
followed as well as I could for per-
haps another mile, fortunately along
the wooded ground the best part OF
the tine. SO that was shaded to some
extent from the burning sunbeams
which under ordinary circumstances
would have caused me no inconven-
ience, but now almost Frustrated me.
l doubtless had lost considerably more
blood than Imagined, but the sudden
renewed barking of the dog put new
life into me and 1 hurried on. The
leopard had hurried on to some rocky
ground. where he had evidently To-
Gated himself. AS he would not prob
ably leave his stronghold for any dog,
I sat down and rested a while. I also
examined the breech Of my carbine
and arranged things as well as could.
SO that no repetition of the last CON
tretemps" should occur. The dog
was working at crevice in the rocks
in which had calculated the leopard
was ensconced. and l cautiously ap-
preached to investigate. l could. how
ever. neither hear nor see anything at
first, but after a while, as my eye
sight got accustomed to the gloom,
made out two balls of fire. They
might have been one yard. they might
have been so yards away. could not
tell-that did not signify-and taking
steady aim between them, I let go.
The report was so deafening that
could not have heard any other sound
had there been one. but the eyes"
had gone out when the smoke cleared
away and all was still. After waiting
a while, cut a limb or two as straight
as could find. and splicing them into
one long one, pushed the pole up into
the recesses of the aperture, and with
drawing 1t. after twisting 1t around
against some soft substance, found,