en promptly vowed that they had not stolen the duck.
They did not appear at all surprised, however, when the accusation was
made; and Ping Wang concluded that they were not speaking the truth.

'As you have stolen the duck,' Ping Wang continued, sternly, 'you must
return to me the money which I gave for it.'

'Would my honourable brother rob his slave?' the boat-owner asked, in
alarm.

'Yes. If you cannot give me the duck, I must have back the price I paid
for it. If you cannot give me the money, I will keep the rifle which the
foreigner is holding.'

This decision alarmed the boat-owner. 'Honourable brother,' he said,
after a few moments' silence, 'I will search for the duck: perhaps it
has rolled off the dish.'

He searched in what appeared to Ping Wang to be very unlikely places,
and found the missing dainty in a basket on top of the pile of cargo.

'The rifle shall be given you,' said Ping Wang, and then turned to speak
to Charlie and Fred. 'We had better breakfast on shore,' he said; 'let
us land at once.'

Ping Wang handed over the Lee-Metford to the boat-owner, and the three
travellers stepped ashore, thoroughly glad to get out of the boat.

(_Continued on page 317._)

ENCOUNTERS WITH LIONS.

The accounts which travellers and hunters sometimes give us of their
encounters with wild animals are often very interesting, not only
because they are exciting, but also because they show us the habits of
the various animals, and the effects which are produced upon the human
brain by these sudden and unusual attacks.

Mr. Moffat, the missionary, describes the very strange behaviour of a
lion which caught a native asleep. The man was returning home from a
visit alone, when, tired with his walk, he sat down to refresh himself
by the side of a pool, and fell asleep. He awoke with the heat of the
sun, and found a lion crouching scarcely more than a yard from his feet.
He sat still for a few minutes, and tried to think what he ought to do.
His gun was lying a little distance away beyond his reach, and he moved
his hand towards it several times. But whenever he did so, the lion
raised his head and uttered a loud roar. So long as the man remained
quite still, the lion did not molest him. The day and the night passed,
and neither the man nor the lion moved from the spot. At noon on the
following day the lion went down to the pool for a drink, watching the
poor man all the while, and then returned to its former