ack to
a fallen stump. As Compton looked, the boy's eyes opened, and his
head turned as if he had heard some noise.

Compton's distress left him. A feeling of great thankfulness swept
over him when he saw that he was not too late, that his friend
lived; and with firm nerves he stepped clear of the tree to shoot.
The movement caught the notice of the leopard. It had crouched down
as Venning turned, but now it lifted its round head to view the new-
comer. With a low growl it made a sudden leap forward, covering an
incredible distance, which brought it nearer to Compton, and as it
gathered itself together he fired, then sprang aside. There was a
rush through the air, a thud, and a tearing noise. There, almost
within reach of him, with the blood running over its face from a
scalp-wound, and its fore-paws tearing the moss from a tree, was the
leopard; and, swift as thought, Compton fired from his hip at the
shoulder. The leopard rolled over, growling, then tried to drag
itself by its powerful paws towards Compton, its mouth wide open. He
fired again, into the gaping jaws, the muscles relaxed, the beast
fell, and he ran towards Venning.

"Are you all right, old chap?"

Venning held on to his friend's arm, and as they stood, the leopard
screamed.

"He is quite done, old fellow. Come and see."

Venning went forward quietly, as if still in a daze, and they looked
down on the leopard, struggling in the death-throes. It raised its
torn head, and again the scream rang out from its red jaws--a
terrible cry, and out of the forest came the answer, shrill and
fearsome. With a low growl the leopard fell forward, dead; but they
could hear an animal advancing rapidly, with fierce grunts; though
from what direction it was impossible to tell.

"It must be the mate," said Compton, with an anxious look at
Venning. "How do you feel?"

"I'm all right now;" and he passed his hand over his forehead. "I
can help you this time. If it is the mate, it will go first to its
dead."

"Then we'd better crouch down by that tree."

They knelt side by side a little way off, with their rifles ready;
but, though the noise made by the advancing animal grew louder, they
could see no movement whatever.

Then an extraordinary thing occurred. A bough above shook heavily,
and a large flattened body shot down from one branch to another,
tail, neck, and legs at the full stretch, alighting easily on the
rounded branch. It paused for a moment, then flew