possession, mounted on the debris of their prison,
lashing their sides with their tails, and looking round in proud
defiance of all mankind!

The crew of the boat, each of whom could swim like a frog, were soon
picked up. Meanwhile, all on board the Wellington who had telescopes
applied them to their eyes, and watched the progress of the dinghy.

It chanced that the current set with considerable force towards the
opposite side of the river, where lay an island on which was a public
garden. There ladies and gentlemen in gay costume, as well as many
natives and children, were promenading the shady walks, chatting
pleasantly, listening to the sweet strains of music, enjoying the
fragrance of scented flowers, with the jungle and its inhabitants very
far indeed from their thoughts--except, perchance, in the case of a
group surrounding a young officer, who was, no doubt, recounting the
manner in which he had potted a tiger on the occasion of his last day
out with the Rajah of Bangalore, or some such dignitary!

Straight to the shores of this Eden-like spot the dinghy drifted, and
quietly did the leopards abide the result--so also did the deeply
interested crew of the Wellington, who, of course, were quite unable to
give any note of warning.

The little boat was seen to touch the shore, and the leopards were
observed to land leisurely without opposition from the enemy.
Immediately after, something resembling a sensation was apparent in the
garden. The distance was too great to permit of sound travelling to the
observers, but it lent enchantment to the view to the extent of
rendering the human beings there like moving flowers of varied hue.
Presently there was a motion, as if a tornado had suddenly burst upon
the flower-beds and scattered them right and left in dire confusion--not
a few appearing to have been blown up into the trees!

That same day the crack shots and sportsmen of Calcutta went down to the
usually peaceful islet and engaged in all the wild work of a regular
hunt, and at eve the two leopards were seen, by interested observers in
the Wellington, being conveyed away in triumph on a litter.

But, long before this happy consummation of the day's sport in the
garden, the remainder of the expected company had arrived alongside the
Wellington, and the undaunted bo's'n--who declared himself ready on the
shortest notice to hoist any living creature on board, from a sperm
whale to a megatherium--tackled the eleph