The Elbert County tribune., 1909-06-04


the river. which on either side is bor-
dered for a quarter of mile or SO
with "wait-a-bit" thorns and under
brush. After going a mile or more my
dog showed special eagerness. and
pulled up Mt 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 quills also lay
around. showing that the leopard had
recently made a meal, of which was
glad. for thought l should be more
likely to find him lazy and lying up,
and hence easier to manage. A little
further on | came to kloof or ravine.
which had to descend and ascend
Attacked by the Savage Beast.
Before | reached the top. the dog
began barking and l hurried on, as
well as could, over the loose stones,
for did not want to lose my only
remaining dog. He, however, came
yelpipg back. just as | gained the top
of the bank. and at the same time
caught sight OF the leopard. which was
making across the open for a patch
OF thorns a couple OF hundred yards
distant. was somewhat out OF
breath from scrambling over the un-
even ground. but, taking as careful
aim as l could, i fired. 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. had not my trusty
Winchester" then, or the leopard
would not have served me as he did.
The weapon was using was a con-
verted Enfield carbine. which, though
splendid shooter. only took one shell
and required Gaping. ! could not get
the cap on before he was upon me,
and over we both went in heap-l
undermost. He got my left arm be-
tween his teeth. and ! could feel HIS
fangs crunching. but seized my long
hunting knife, and managed to get it
under his chin and gave a frantic
cash which almost cut his head on.
In the meantime my dog had re-
gained his composure: since he had
ottn tEo vi Ills COillTdueS 0dIle0eu
out by leopards he had often turned
tall but he was very useful In track
ing them. 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
I felt pretty sick, still could not re-
sist the temptation and followed him,
first Of all hanging up the skin on a
thorn bush. The dog held on and I
followed as well as l 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 prostrated me.
doubtless had lost considerably more
blood than l imagined. but the sudden
renewed barking OF the dog put new
life into me and l 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,
sat down and rested a while. l 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 a crevice In the rocks
in which I had calculated the leopard
was ensconced. and cautiously ap-
preached to investigate. could, how
ever, neither hear nor see anything at
Rrof ht,f off nh
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. | let CO.
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 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.
sure enough. leopard's fur on the end.
now felt no hesitation about going
in. though this was more easily said
than done. could with difiiculty
squeeze myself through the narrow
opening, and to do SO caused me ex-
cruciating pain. Once through, how
ever. had more room, and soon
reached my quarry. which I got at
last into the daylight, not little glad
to be out OF the business 80 well.
then had to skin her-a female, and
doubtless mate to the one had killed
in the morning. Then returning to
where had left the other skin made
tracks for the wagon