advanced and fixed him, while some natives finished him by beating him
on the head with hedge-stakes. The brave artilleryman was, after all,
but slightly hurt. He claimed the skin, which was very cheerfully given
to him. There was, however, a cry among the natives that the head should
be cut off: it was; and, in so doing, the knife came directly across the
bayonet. The animal measured scarcely less than four feet from the root
of the tail to the nose."

Captain Marryatt had a pretty serious adventure with a huge panther in
Africa, while his vessel lay at anchor in a river there, and he and his
men were busy in taking in a cargo of ivory. As they were thus engaged
one day, by some accident a hole was made in the bottom of the boat, and
they were unable to proceed with it. The captain told the men to remain
by the boat, and started himself to obtain assistance from the vessel.
He thought that if he could force his way through the canes which
abounded in that vicinity, a short distance down the river, he could
make signals to those on board, and that some of them would come to
their help. This expedition, however, proved a much longer one than he
anticipated, and much more perilous. He lost his way. "At first," he
says, "I got on very well, as there were little paths through the canes,
made, as I imagined, by the natives; and although I was up to my knees
in thick black mud, I continued to get on pretty fast; but at last the
canes grew so thick that I could hardly force my way through them, and
it was a work of exceeding labor. Still I persevered, expecting each
second I should arrive at the banks of the river, and be rewarded for my
fatigue; but the more I labored the worse it appeared for me, and at
last I became worn out and quite bewildered. I then tried to find my way
back, and was equally unsuccessful, when I sat down with any thing but
pleasant thoughts in my mind. I calculated that I had been two hours in
making this attempt, and was now quite puzzled how to proceed. I