ybody, marines and all, tried to follow. Such a row never was
heard; but the man knew the country, and we saw him no more. I was
rather glad, for he must have been a plucky fellow.

The other prisoner was doubly secured and taken down to the village. He
was afterwards hanged, so justice was satisfied and my work finished. I
got a letter of thanks from the President of the United States, of which
I was and am still very proud, and meant to have used had
blockade-running brought me to grief.

This business being satisfactorily concluded, I asked my friend the
caimakam if there was any big game to be had. His answer was, 'Chok au
Va,' which meant there was plenty: and he undertook to beat the
neighbouring woods that very day with his men. We were told that there
were plenty of roe deer, foxes, jackals, &c., so we loaded our guns with
S.S.G. cartridges (which means, I may tell it to the uninitiated,
buck-shot). We were stationed on the outskirts of a splendid oak wood
that looked like holding any mortal thing in the way of game. Soon as
the beaters set to work cocks began to fly about in all directions, but
we had an instinct that something more important would turn up, so took
no notice of feathered game. I was watching close, trying to look
through almost impenetrable brushwood, when I heard a rustling sort of
noise near me, and suddenly I caught sight of something which almost
made my hair stand on end--a great tiger leopard, creeping, stealthily
as a cat, out of the wood, within twenty yards of where I was standing.
Fortunately he did not look my way. What was I to do? My gun, as I said,
was loaded with buck-shot; a miss or a wound would have been sure to
bring the brute on top of me. However, I did not hesitate more than a
couple of seconds; I pointed my gun at his heart just behind the
shoulder, and pulled the trigger. The whole charge went straight where I
pointed it, and the tiger rolled over on his back. I put a ball into my
gun and approached him very gingerly. When I got close to him I found he
hadn't a kick in him. His claws were crunched up as if grasping
something, his grand eyes were growing dim, and though, to make all
sure, I fired a ball into his head, it was not necessary, as I found
nine buckshot in the heart. He was a splendid beast, eleven feet from
tip of tail to end of nose. It was said that he had killed a shepherd
some days before, so he deserved his fate.

Before returning to the ship that eveni