was very wrong to think of shooting him,
but I could not help it. I allowed them to go on drinking, which they
did, dipping their trunks into the water, and pouring it down their
throats. I hesitated even now, however, about firing, lest I might warn
the lions, whom I most particularly wished to destroy. Suddenly they
all began to move off, and I was afraid that I should miss the chance of
hitting one. I therefore gave a low whistle, which immediately
attracted their attention. Once more turning round, they slightly
raised their huge ears, and moved their trunks in eccentric circles
through the air, as if they wished to ascertain the cause of the strange
noise they had heard. I could resist no longer, but pulling my trigger,
the loud thud of the bullet as it struck the animal's head showed me I
had hit him fairly. He turned round, and staggered back a few paces. I
was afraid that I might not have mortally wounded him. I fired my other
barrel behind his ear, and without a struggle he sank down dead, the
other elephants going off into the forest at a great rate, uttering
notes of terror. I was about to rush forward across the stream to
examine him, when my companions urged me to remain quiet; and in a short
time I saw a leopard stealing over the ground. Then another came. I
shot one with one barrel, and one with the other; but still the object
of our hunt, if so it could be called, was not accomplished. Some time
passed away, when I saw a creature moving towards me; and soon, as it
came out of the darkness of the forest, I distinguished a fine lion. I
let it get quite close before I fired. I drew my trigger. The brute
turned round and bounded off, and I thought that it had escaped me,
though the loud and peculiar roar it uttered made me hope that it was
mortally wounded. Still Igubo urged me to remain quiet, and after some
time another lion came. It seemed as if he was about to spring across
the stream towards me. It was the one I shot just as Andrew arrived.
The rest he has told you."

"Oh, brother, I wish you would not undertake such dangerous
expeditions!" exclaimed Kate, when Stanley had finished.

"But surely, my dear sister, in this case I was fighting in a good
cause," said Stanley, laughing. "If we have rid the country of these
man-eaters, we shall have rendered an essential service to our
neighbours, and the blacks, I hope, will show their gratitude."

We soon retired to rest, and slept mor