ing what a remarkable person I was, I went through part of my
acrobatic repertoire; and even my poor eager Bruno, who evidently scented
trouble, began on his own account to give a hurried and imperfect show.
He stood on his head and tumbled backwards and forwards in a lamentably
loose and unscientific manner, barking and yelling all the time.

I do not know whether the wily chief had made up his mind to see more of
us or not; but at any rate he looked at me very fiercely as though
determined to carry his point, and then replied that there was but one
law--which was that Yamba should be confiscated for poaching, whether the
crime was intentional on her part or not. So emphatically was this said
that I began to think I had really lost my faithful companion for ever.
As this awful thought grew upon me, and I pondered over the terrible
past, I made up my mind that if necessary I would lose my own life in her
defence, and to this end I adopted a very haughty attitude, which caused
the chief suddenly to discover a kind of by-law to the effect that in
such cases as this one the nearest relative of the prisoner might win her
back by fighting for her. This, of course, was what I wanted, above all
things--particularly as the old chief had not as yet seen me use my
wonderful weapons. And as I felt certain he would choose throwing
spears, I knew that victory was mine. He selected, with a critical eye,
three well-made spears, whilst I chose three arrows, which I purposely
brandished aloft, so as to give my opponent the impression that they were
actually small spears, and were to be thrown, as such, javelin-fashion.
The old chief and his blacks laughed heartily and pityingly at this
exhibition, and ridiculed the idea that I could do any damage with such
toy weapons.

The demeanour of the chief himself was eloquent of the good-humoured
contempt in which he held me as an antagonist; and a distance of twenty
paces having been measured out, we took our places and prepared for the
dramatic encounter, upon which depended something more precious to me
than even my own life. Although outwardly cool and even haughty, I was
really in a state of most terrible anxiety. I fixed my eyes intently
upon the spare but sinewy chief, and without moving a muscle allowed him
to throw his spears first. The formidable weapons came whizzing through
the air with extraordinary rapidity one after the other; but long
experience of the weapon and my own ni