s Fane was quite as interested in listening as Muriel was in
talking.

'I think the next time Aunt Margaret comes we must have a whole
holiday,' she said. 'I think you have earned one to-day. I am sure you
are going to be a capital nurse some day, for you have looked after me
so splendidly to-day.'

And Aunt Margaret was quite satisfied, too, with the result of Muriel's
first lesson.

[Illustration: Muriel's First Patient.]

[Illustration: "He swung himself off the ground."]

STORIES FROM AFRICA.

XI.--A MIGHTY HUNTER.

[Illustration]

Our African picture-gallery would be quite incomplete without a thought
of the Dark Continent as the land of great beasts, the home of those
kings among the wild creatures who can never be made the servants or the
friends of man; the land where the roar of the lion wakes the dark
hours, and the elephant and buffalo steal down to drink at the muddy
pools. And so our next story must be of one of those mighty hunters of
half a century ago who went to Africa for pastime, long before any one
dreamt of a Cape to Cairo railway. William Cotton Oswell was a sportsman
of the best type, six feet in height, wiry and muscular, a magnificent
rider and a dead shot. He spent five years in Africa without a day's
illness, was absolutely fearless, and, withal, so gentle and kindly of
heart that he won the love of every one, English or African, with whom
he came in contact; and he was so modest that his adventures were known
only to intimate friends.

'I am sorry for the fine old beasts I shot,' he said, looking back, a
grandfather and a quiet English gentleman, to the old wild hunting days;
and if, as the chroniclers tell us, William the Conqueror 'loved the
high deer as if he were their father,' so his nineteenth-century
namesake had a warm corner in his heart for the lion and the buffalo,
and the great, clumsy, fierce rhinoceros, against which he matched
himself so successfully.

In 1844, Mr. Oswell, who had been sent to South Africa to recruit, after
fever contracted in India, started on a hunting expedition with Major
Murray as his companion, visiting on the way Dr. Livingstone's
settlement at Mabotse, and getting information from him as to the
country and the game to be found there. The doctor was a better
naturalist than he was a sportsman; he had the keen observation
indispensable to the hunter, but never became a good shot. He gave his
visitors, however, all the help and inform