gan to follow the wounded panther;
but had scarcely gone twenty-five yards, when one of the beaters, who
was on high ground, beckoned to me, and pointed a little below him, and
in front of me. There was the large panther sitting out unconcealed
between two bushes a dozen yards before me. I could not, however, see
his head; and whilst I was thus delayed, he came out with a roar,
straight at me. I fired at his chest with a ball, and as he sprang upon
me, the shot barrel was aimed at his head. In the next moment he seized
my left arm, and the gun. Thus, not being able to use the gun as a club,
I forced it into his mouth. He bit the stock through in one place, and
whilst his upper fangs lacerated my arm and hand, the lower fangs went
into the gun. His hind claws pierced my left thigh. He tried very hard
to throw me over. In the mean while the shikaree had retreated some
paces to the left. He now, instead of spearing the panther, shouted out,
and struck him, using the spear as a club. In a moment the animal was
upon him, stripping him of my shikar-bag, his turban, my revolving
rifle, and the spear. The man passed by me, holding his wounded arm. The
panther quietly crouched five paces in front of me, with all my
despoiled property, stripped from the shikaree, around and under him. I
retreated step by step, my face toward the foe, till I got to my horse,
and to the beaters, who were all collected together some forty yards
from the fight.

"I immediately loaded the gun with a charge of shot and a bullet, and
taking my revolver pistol out of the holster, and sticking it into my
belt, determined to carry on the affair to its issue, knowing how rarely
men recover from such wounds as mine. I was bleeding profusely from
large tooth wounds in the arm; the tendons of my left hand were torn
open, and I had five claw wounds in the thigh. The poor shikaree's arm
was somewhat clawed up, and if the panther was not killed, the
superstition of the natives would go far to kill this man.

"I persuaded my horse-keeper to come with me, and taking the hog-spear
he had in his hand, we went to the spot where lay the weapons stripped
from the shikaree. A few yards beyond them crouched the huge panther
again. I could not see his head very distinctly, but fired deliberately
behind his shoulder. In one moment he was again upon me. I gave him the
charge of shot, as I supposed, in his face, but had no time to take aim.
In the next instant the panther go