o a succession
of savage, barking roars. The exciting cause of this exhibition of
anger was not at first apparent. But presently the little party of
interested witnesses caught sight of a dark object nearly hidden in the
grass; and as they watched this object, its details gradually revealed
themselves, and they recognised it as an animal of the leopard species,
of about the same size as the ordinary leopard, and similarly, marked,
save that the tint of the skin, instead of being tawny yellow, was a
rich brown, approaching very nearly to chocolate.

"Look! what animal is that?" ejaculated the professor, in a husky
whisper. "I do not know him. He is new to me--a new species! And the
gorilla, too; what a splendid specimen!--"

Von Schalckenberg fell suddenly silent, constrained thereto by his
interest in the impending drama, for it was evident that the leopard
meditated an attack upon the gorilla. The great cat was crouching low
in the grass, with its ears laid back flat to its head, its savage eyes
gleaming with hate as it watched every movement of its antagonist, and
its tail twitching jerkingly now to this side, now to that. The
gorilla, meanwhile, as fully alert as the leopard, was advancing
craftily toward it, a single pace at a time, with the apparent intention
of getting within leaping distance, and then suddenly springing upon its
foe. The leopard, however, appeared to be fully aware of its enemy's
intention, and also of how to frustrate it; for it remained patiently
crouching until the gorilla was in the very act of pulling itself
together for a leap, and then, at the psychological moment, sprang high
into the air, leaping clear and clean over the gorilla's head, and
landing a yard or so in his rear; then, before the huge creature had
time to recover from his astonishment at such extraordinary tactics, the
leopard again gathered itself together for a spring, and was in a moment
on the gorilla's back, with its teeth deeply sunk in the back of the
creature's neck, while with its terrible claws it dug and tore at the
gorilla's throat. So completely was the latter taken by surprise, that
he seemed utterly incapable of striking a blow in self-defence. Instead
he simply threw up his long, hairy, tremendously muscular arms,
staggered backward a pace or two, and fell to the earth, moaning and
groaning horribly as he clasped his terribly lacerated throat with both
hands, the leopard having meanwhile leaped nimbl