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KILLING A GIRAFFE.

At every stride I gained upon the giraffes, and, after a short burst at a swingeing gallop, I was in the middle of them, and turned the finest cow out of the herd.  On finding herself driven from her comrades and hotly pursued, she increased her pace, and cantered along with tremendous strides, clearing an amazing extent of ground at every bound; while her neck and breast, coming in contact with the dead old branches of the trees, were continually strewing them in my path.  In a few minutes I was riding within five yards of her stern, and, firing at a gallop, I sent a bullet into her back.  Increasing my pace, I next rode alongside, and, placing the muzzle of my rifle within a few feet of her, I fired my second shot behind the shoulder; the ball, however, seemed to have little effect.  I then placed myself directly in front, when she came to a walk.  Dismounting, I hastily loaded both barrels, putting in double charges of powder.  Before this was accomplished, she was off at a canter.  In a short time I brought her to a stand in the dry bed of a watercourse, where I fired at fifteen yards, aiming where I thought the heart lay, upon which she again made off.  Having loaded, I followed, and had very nearly lost her; she had turned abruptly to the left, and was far out of sight among the trees.  Once more I brought her to a stand, and dismounted from my horse.  There we stood together alone in the wild wood.  I gazed in wonder at her extreme beauty, while her soft dark eye, with its silky fringe, looked down imploringly at me, and I really felt a pang of sorrow in this moment of triumph for the blood I was shedding.  Pointing my rifle toward the skies, I sent a bullet through her neck.  On receiving it she reared high on her hind legs and fell back with a heavy crash, making the earth shake around her.  A thick stream of dark blood spouted out from the wound, her colossal limbs quivered for a moment, and she expired.—­Cummings’ Adventures.

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THE VETERAN KOLOMBESKI.

Several journals have spoken of the entry into the Hotel des Invalides of a soldier, stated to be 126 years of age.  This is not quite correct.  The following are some precise details respecting this extraordinary man, who arrived at the Hotel on the 21st inst.:—­Jean Kolombeski, born at Astrona (Poland), on the 1st of March, 1730, entered the service of France, as a volunteer in the Bourbon regiment of infantry, in 1774, at the age of forty-four.  He was made corporal in 1790, at the age of sixty.  He made all the campaigns of the Revolution and of the Empire, in different regiments of infantry, and was incorporated, in 1808, in the 3d regiment of the Vistula.  He was wounded in 1814, and entered the hospital at Poitiers, which he soon afterward