ut had no doubt that
they were some people come in search of me. I at length was certain
that, whoever it was, they were now spooring me up, and at last heard
their steps come nearer, as they pushed the branches on one side. New
hope seemed to come into my heart at these sounds, and I breathed more
freely.
"As the steps approached, the puff-adder moved; he raised his broad
head, not quite two feet from me, and looked in the direction of the new
comers; then dropping down, he glided away through the brushwood. I
watched him retire, and saw the leopard lying dead within a yard of me.
But now that I was comparatively safe, I could no longer bear my
situation, and drawing in a long breath, I sent forth a loud cry. The
people were immediately around me, and perceived what had happened, with
the exception that the puff-adder had been my bed-fellow.
"The party consisted of my brother and three Hottentots. These men had
informed him that they feared something had happened to me, from the
fact of my pony returning alone in the evening. The whole party had
spoored me from the first kloof to where I lay. The Hottentots, finding
the blood-spoor of the wounded leopard, feared that I had attacked him
again, and that he had killed me.
"They carried me on the boughs of trees, which they fastened together
with reims [strips of untanned leather], and at last managed to convey
me home.
"I was three months before I could move out of my bed, and all my
friends thought that I should die.
"Look at my arm! look at my shoulder, where the leopard's claws tore me;
the wounds were given thirteen years ago; see the scars even now!"
Saying which he bared his arm and shoulder, where the terrible marks
were yet apparent.
"When you come across a wounded leopard, you `_pas-op_,'" (take care),
was Hendrick's moral.
I thought over this story frequently during the night, and impressed on
my mind that I would always be careful of leopards; another instance
having occurred, in which a bombardier of artillery was much torn by a
wounded leopard close beside his barracks at Natal. With the usual
bravery, but want of sporting skill, of the British soldier, he went
into the bush, armed with a sword to finish a leopard that had crawled
in badly wounded. The savage animal sprang upon him, seized his hand,
and would have killed him, had not a fortunate shot from a civilian, who
had followed the soldier, laid the leopard low. The loss of the
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