proceed."

"Will it not be safer to do our travelling by night?" asked the
daughter.

"That is what I mean to do after reaching the more plainly marked path,
which connects with the highway. I see no risk in pushing through the
jungle by day, since the only foes we are likely to encounter are
four-footed ones. If we meet any such we must refrain from firing,
since the reports of our guns will be sure to draw attention to us. I
mean, of course," explained the doctor, "that our weapons are not to be
appealed to unless there is no escape otherwise, as was the case with
the tiger."

While he was speaking, Mary gave a faint gasp and caught his arm. She
and Jack were facing the point toward which his back was turned.
Seeing that it was something behind him that had startled both, the
doctor turned his head. As if to emphasize the words just spoken, he
saw an immense spotted leopard, motionless in the trail not more than
fifty feet away. Evidently he was trotting to the stream, when he
caught sight of the three persons, stopped short, raised his head and
stared wonderingly at them.

The leopard shares the reputation of the tiger for deadly ferocity and
daring. When more than 20,000 persons are killed in India every year
by wild animals and serpents, it will be found that the leopard is one
of the most active among these factors of death, and holds his own well
up with the tiger.

Like the venomous serpent, the leopard had a terrible beauty all his