one
glance of the eye he detected a dark spot in the neighborhood of the
beast's ear,--with one light motion he directed the barrel of the rifle
at it and fired.

The report of the shot, Nell's scream, and a short, shrill bleat
resounded at the same moment. Stas jumped towards Nell, and covering
her with his own body, he aimed again at the assailant.

But the second shot was entirely unnecessary, for the dreadful cat lay
like a rag, flattened out, with nose close to the ground and claws
wedged in the grass--almost without a quiver. The bursting bullet had
torn out the back of its head and the nape of its neck. Above its eyes,
gory, torn, white convolutions of its brain oozed out.

And the little hunter and Nell stood for some time, gazing now at the
slain beast, then at each other, not being able to utter a word. But
after that something strange happened. Now this same Stas, who a moment
before would have astonished the most experienced hunter in the whole
world by his calmness and coolness, suddenly became pale; his limbs
began to tremble, tears flowed from his eyes, and afterwards he seized
his head with the palms of his hands and began to repeat:

"Oh, Nell! Nell! If I had not returned!"

And he was swayed by such consternation, such belated despair, that
every fiber within him quivered as if he had a fever. After an
unheard-of exertion of his will and all the powers of his soul and body
a moment of weakness and relaxation had come. Before his eyes was the
picture of the dreadful beast, resting with blood-stained muzzle in
some dark cave and tearing Nell's body to pieces. And of course, this
could have happened and would have happened if he had not returned. One
minute, one second more and it would have been too late. This thought
he plainly could not banish.

Finally it ended in this, that Nell, recovering from her fear and
alarm, had to comfort him. The little upright soul threw both her
little arms around his neck and, weeping also, began to call to him
loudly, as if she wanted to arouse him from slumber.

"Stas! Stas! Nothing is the matter with me. See, nothing is the matter
with me. Stas! Stas!"

But he came to himself and grew calm only after a long time.
Immediately after that Kali, who heard the shot not far from the camp
and knew that the "Bwana kubwa" never fired in vain, came leading a
horse to carry away the game. The young negro, glancing at the slain
beast, suddenly retreated, and his face at