dy.

We fired, and both our balls took effect, when the leopard literally
turned, with its feet uppermost, and fell right down into the centre of
the fire, where it lay struggling convulsively, utterly unable to rise.
Directly afterwards I heard the report of a pistol, and, while hastily
reloading, I saw that Hans had shot the other leopard through the head.

As we did not wish to lose the skin of the one we had shot, Harry again
firing gave it its quietus; we then seizing it by its hind legs dragged
it out of the fire, and Jan's knife soon finished the other.

We thus gained two magnificent leopards' skins: the fire had but
slightly injured the one we had killed.

"There is some use in keeping watch at night, Hans," observed Harry;
"what would have become of us if I had not been awake? Those brutes
would have been in our midst before we were able to lift a hand in our
defence. As it was, I caught sight of only one of them stealing towards
us, and had barely time to rouse up the rest of you, so that if Fred
hadn't been very quick, the brute would have been down upon us."

"All right," answered Hans, "such a thing is not likely to happen a
second time in a night, so I suppose we may now go to sleep in quiet."

"I don't suppose anything of the sort," replied Harry; "there are no end
of lions and leopards prowling about, and you would have heard them if
you hadn't snored so loudly. It will be your turn to keep watch, and I
intend to rouse you up in half an hour."

"Yah, yah," answered Hans, placing his head on the ground, and going off
to sleep again.

As I thought would probably be the case, the scent of the dead leopards
attracted packs of hyaenas and jackals, who serenaded us with their
horrible yells and howls for the remainder of the night, though the
blazing fire we kept up prevented them from approaching.

Notwithstanding Harry's threat, he did not wake up Hans, who would
probably again have composed himself for sleep, and we might have been
left to the tender mercies of the hyaenas.

In the morning we took the skins off the two leopards; and cleaned and
packed them up so as to be easily transported. As Hans claimed the skin
of the leopard he had shot, he had to carry it, while Jan carried ours.
We then started off for the _vlei_. It would be too late in the
morning, we calculated, by the time we could reach it, to shoot any
animals; and we should have to wait till the evening, when they would be
lik