Poor fellow! he never lived to reach his comfortable kennel, but
died in the litter within a mile of home. I had him buried by
the side of old Smut, and there are no truer dogs on the earth
than the two that there lie together.
A very few weeks after Bluebeard's death, however, I got a taste
of revenge out of one of the race.
Palliser and I were out shooting, and we found a single bull
elephant asleep in the dry bed of a stream; we were stealing
quietly up to him, when his guardian spirit whispered something
in his ear, and up he jumped. However, we polished him off, and
having reloaded, we passed on.
The country consisted of low, thorny jungle and small sandy
plains of short turf, and we were just entering one of these open
spots within a quarter of a mile of the dead elephant, when we
observed a splendid leopard crouching at the far end of the
glade. He was about ninety paces from us, lying broadside on,
with his head turned to the opposite direction, evidently looking
out for game. His crest was bristled up with excitement, and he
formed a perfect picture of beauty both in color and attitude.
Halting our gun-bearers, we stalked him within sixty yards; he
looked quickly round, and his large hazel eyes shone full upon
us, as the two rifles made one report, and his white belly lay
stretched upon the ground.
They were both clean shots: Palliser had aimed at his head, and
had cut off one ear and laid the skin open at the back of the
neck. My ball had smashed both shoulders, but life was not
fairly extinct. We therefore strangled him with my necktie, as I
did not wish to spoil his hide by any further wound. This was a
pleasing sacrifice to the "manes" of old Bluebeard.
E. Palliser had at one time the luck to have a fair turn up with
a leopard with the dogs and hunting-knife. At that time he kept
a pack at Dimboola, about nine miles from my house. Old
Bluebeard belonged to him, and he had a fine dog named "Pirate,"
who was the heaviest and best of his seizers.
He was out hunting with two or three friends, when suddenly a
leopard sprang from the jungle at one of the smaller hounds as
they were passing quietly along a forest path. Halloaing the
pack on upon the instant, every dog gave chase, and a short run
brought him to bay in the usual place of refuge, the boughs of a
tree.
However, it so happened that there was a good supply of large
sharp stones upon the soil, and with these the whole party kept
up a spirited bombardment, until at length one lucky shot hit him
on the head, and at the same moment he fell or jumped into the
middle of the pack.
