ended yourselves, if you make the attempt."

Nowell was rather annoyed at this, as he, not having had the severe
lesson I had got, was still eager for more elephant-shooting. While Mr
Fordyce was speaking, we were approaching the spot where we proposed
pitching our tent, near one of the many tanks I have mentioned, now, in
most instances, in a sadly ruined condition. Suddenly our ears were
assailed by a wild and mournful cry.

"What can that be?" I asked.

"Some human being in pain," answered Mr Fordyce, pressing on his horse
in the direction from whence the sound came.

We followed him till we came to a tree round which stood a number of
Veddahs, far less repulsive than those we had before seen. In the
centre of the circle, sitting on the ground with his back against the
trunk, was a young man with a horrible wound in his stomach, through
which his intestines protruded. There he sat, the picture of fortitude
and resignation; and though his companions exhibited their grief by
their wild howls, he did not show, by the contraction of a muscle, or by
any sign of impatience, that he felt the agony his wound was causing, or
that he feared the death which must be its result; at the same time the
perspiration streaming from his forehead, cheeks, and neck, showed the
terrible pain he was suffering. Dango, who came up, inquired how the
accident had occurred, when he was told that the young Veddah had just
passed a wild buffalo in the cover, scarcely noticing it, when the
animal rushed out at him from behind, knocked him down, and gored him
from the groin upwards, as he fell. It was pitiable to see him when we
felt how little aid we could afford him. He looked up calmly in our
faces as if to seek for assurance and consolation there, but he could
have found but little of either.

"Such might be your fate, or indeed that of any one of us, as we are
traversing these wilds," observed Mr Fordyce.

The Veddah looked up at him that moment and spoke. Mr Fordyce produced
a small copy of the New Testament from his pocket, and read some verses.
Instantly the young man's countenance brightened. He knew and believed
the truths contained in that sacred book. He had been educated at one
of the missionary establishments, afterwards abandoned; but the seed had
not fallen on stony ground. Now our kind friend could afford both
comfort and consolation. He continued reading to the poor man till a
litter could be formed, and some of