Lena, who seldom showed a symptom of
fear, dashed up to me in a state of great excitement, with the
deep scores of a leopard's claws on her hindquarters. Only two
couple of the hounds followed on the elk's track; the rest were
nowhere.
The elk had doubled back, and I saw old Bluebeard leading upon
the scent up the bank of the river, followed by three other
bounds.
The surest, although the hardest work, was to get on the track
and follow up through the jungle. This I accordingly did for
about a mile, at which distance I arrived at a small swampy plain
in the centre of the jungle. Here, to my surprise, I saw old
Bluebeard sitting up and looking faint, covered with blood, with
no other dog within view. The truth was soon known upon
examination. No less than five holes were cut in his throat by a
leopard's claws, and by the violent manner in which. the poor dog
strained and choked, I felt sure that the windpipe was injured.
There was no doubt that he had received the stroke at the same
time that Lena was wounded beneath the rocky mountain when the
elk was at bay; and nevertheless, the staunch old dog had
persevered in the chase till the difficulty of breathing brought
him to a standstill. I bathed the wounds, but I knew it was his
last day, poor old fellow!
I sounded the bugle for a few minutes, and having collected some
of the scattered pack I returned to the tent, leading the wounded
dog, whose breathing rapidly became more difficult. I lost no
time in fomenting and poulticing the part, but the swelling had
commenced to such an extent that there was little hope of
recovery.
This was a dark day for the pack. Benton returned in the
afternoon from a search for the missing hounds, and, as he
descended the deep hill-side on approaching the tent, I saw tent
he and a native were carrying something slung upon a pole. At
first I thought it was an elk's head, which the missing hounds
might have run to bay, but on his arrival the worst was soon
known.
It was poor Leopold, one of my best dogs. He was all but dead,
with hopeless wounds in his throat and belly. He had been struck
by a leopard within a few yards of Benton's side, and, with his
usual pluck, the dog turned upon the leopard in spite of his
wounds, when the cowardly brute, seeing the man, turned and fled.
