A POND BY THE WAYSIDE.
One night, in the country of Ugogo, there was an alarm in the camp, and word was brought to Doctor Bronson that one of their goats had been seized by a leopard. The natives were afraid to pursue the beast, but they fired guns and made a great noise, which caused the intruder to drop his prey a short distance from where he caught it.
Confident that the brute would return, a trap was set for him in the shape of a spring-gun carefully placed over the dead goat. About an hour before daylight the gun was discharged, but nobody went near the spot till morning.
CAPTURING A LEOPARD.
The ball from the gun had broken the leopard's fore-leg and passed through his shoulder, so that he had been unable to get far from the spot; but as the natives approached him he sprang up, with a loud roar, and fixed the claws of the sound fore-leg in the shoulder of the nearest man. The latter was so taken by surprise that he did not use his spear, but his companions came to his rescue and despatched the assailant. The wounded negro was adjudged to be the rightful owner of the skin of the leopard. He was consoled for his injury by Frank, who paid a good price for the trophy. The man continued with the expedition, but his wounds were not healed for nearly a month. When he was pronounced well again he came to Frank and expressed his readiness to capture another leopard for the same price!
The boys endorsed fully the account which Cameron gives of the rapacity of the chiefs of Ugogo, and their exorbitant demands for tribute; but, owing to their being in company with the Arab merchant, they escaped more easily than did the English explorer. They made sketches of some of the followers of the chiefs, and their attention was particularly drawn to the habit which these natives have, of piercing their ears.
