t to you."

The men with the bows had disappeared; not so Umhleswa, who stood his
ground firmly.

"Take the young one, chief," whispered the missionary to the Amatonga.

Both the rifles united in one common report, the Spanish piece ringing
out a second later. The male panther sprang into the air and fell,
nearly at the feet of the little party, quite dead. The female, badly
wounded, broke away towards the mountains, while the young one made his
spring, striking down the Amatonga chief, and, dashing through a party
of the assegai men, again sought shelter in the bush. The fore-arm of
the female panther was broken, but it ultimately gained the mountains,
with a party of some dozen men after it, yelling, shouting, and
discharging their arrows at impossible distances. The poor fellow who
had been struck down in the bush was dead, and his body was laid beside
the carcass of the leopard. Umhleswa was a good deal hurt; the blow
having struck his head, but the animal being young, weak, and
frightened, had inflicted only a scalp wound; nevertheless, the chief
was stunned, and it was an hour before he recovered consciousness.

For the first time since their arrival among the Amatongas the white men
were left to their own device. The confusion was very great, and all
assembled round their unconscious chief. A litter was constructed, and
they started for the kraal, the whole party of savages accompanying it.

The two Europeans, having once more loaded their rifles, stood watching
the retiring and discomfited savages.

"We ought to have that second tiger, Wyzinski; you fired too low," at
last observed Hughes.

"I suppose I did, confused doubtless by the three leaping animals. I am
sorry for it. Umhleswa missed his, and it is humiliating that I only
wounded mine."

"Well, what say you, shall we follow the spoor; it will lead us to
yonder mountains, where we shall in all probability find the wounded
panther?"

"What if we were to follow the young one?"

"No, it would lead us into the forest, and besides it is unwounded. The
Amatonga chief missed, and his braves ran away; let us bring in the
female; and besides that, now that the hope of finding your cherished
ruins has vanished, we have nothing to do but look for sport. The more
reason we should not lose this chance."

The missionary stood leaning on his rifle, and he slowly shook his head
as he answered--

"My faith in the existence of those ruins is unshak