r to death. Like Samson, the leopard had brought
destruction upon itself!

Handing the reins of the bridle to Arend, Hendrik walked up within a few
feet of the leopard's head, and put an end to its snarling screams by a
ball through the brain.

What little life remained in the giraffe soon departed from it, along
with the blood which the beast of prey had let out of its veins.
Standing over the two carcasses, the hunters tried to arrive at some
comprehension of the strange scene they had witnessed. They had heard
of a lion having ridden on the back of a giraffe for a distance of many
miles, and had treated the story as a fabrication. Before them was
evidence that a leopard had travelled no little distance in a similar
manner. Why should not a lion do the same? Notwithstanding the
thickness of the hide that covered the neck of the giraffe, it had been
torn to shreds, that were hanging down over its shoulders. The long
claws and tusks of the leopard had been repeatedly buried in its flesh,
arteries and veins had been dragged from their beds and laid open, ere
the strength and life of the animal had forsaken it. This could not
have been the work of a few seconds.

Several minutes may have been required for inflicting the injuries the
giraffe had suffered, and during that time its merciless foe was
probably wholly unconscious that it was being borne far from the scene
where the attack had been commenced. Death had saved it from the
surprise of discovering that, in the practice of its ferocious fury, it
had been carried far away from the young it was making such efforts to
defend.

CHAPTER FORTY.

ANOTHER DISAPPOINTMENT.

Three days after the departure of the messengers, Macora's promise of
aid was again fulfilled by the arrival of thirty workmen. A site for
the hopo was chosen about half a mile from the forest edge, and the
construction of it was immediately commenced.

Anxious to learn the result of another attempt at capturing giraffes,
the hunters toiled early and late. Two of them were constantly handling
the axes, felling small trees, which the blacks transported to the place
where they were to be used, while the other two superintended the
setting of the sticks. The labour of constructing this trap was not so
great as the other, for a more convenient site had been chosen. The two
fences were to be placed a little beyond the sides of the mimosa grove,
which was not more than half a mile wide; n