ment among
the grass and undergrowth that might mean sudden death. He says himself
that his uncertain course and frequent stoppages probably saved him,
since the wild beast distrusts any prey that does not go straight
forward, as if expecting counter-manoeuvres. It was an hour's
journey--a trial, certainly, to the stoutest nerves. But the haven of
safety was reached at last. The anxious searchers heard their guns
answered by the shout of their lost companion, and the exhausted
sportsman found welcome and food and fire awaiting him. As he sat,
thawing his numbed fingers by the cheerful blaze, a distant roar sounded
among the bushes, the voice of a lion who scents his prey. The Kaffir
servants looked at each other and at their master.

'He has found your track, Jlaga,' said one of them.

The race had been a close one indeed; a few minutes' difference, and the
story of that night under the African sky would never have come home to
England.

MARY H. DEBENHAM.

THEMISTOCLES AND THE GREEK GENERALS.

The Athenian general and statesman, Themistocles, was one of the few
Greeks who, when Xerxes, the King of Persia, invaded Greece with a great
army and a huge fleet, thought it possible to resist the Great King
(that was the title which the king of the Persian Empire bore). He had
much difficulty in persuading the generals of the other Greek states to
fight at all, or even to await the coming of the enemy; some he bribed,
others he bullied, till at length the Persian fleet was totally defeated
off the island of Salamis.

After this victory, there were great rejoicings, and it was resolved to
give splendid honours to the general who was considered the worthiest,
and also to him who came next in glory. The generals therefore voted to
see who should be considered first and who second.

For the first place, no one got more than one vote; each general had
voted for himself for the first prize! But Themistocles was unanimously
declared to have won the second prize, for though no one of them liked
to admit that Themistocles was better than himself, they were each
certain that he was superior to all the rest. So no one got the first
prize, but special honours were paid to Themistocles.

A SILENT REPROOF.

Many years ago a number of persons were travelling by coach northwards
towards Paisley. Some of them were Scottish farmers; others, tradesmen
or persons of good position in Paisley; and one was a Scotsman of
su