The other prisoner was doubly secured and taken down to the village.  He was afterwards hanged, so justice was satisfied and my work finished.  I got a letter of thanks from the President of the United States, of which I was and am still very proud, and meant to have used had blockade-running brought me to grief.

This business being satisfactorily concluded, I asked my friend the caimakam if there was any big game to be had.  His answer was, ’Chok au Va,’ which meant there was plenty:  and he undertook to beat the neighbouring woods that very day with his men.  We were told that there were plenty of roe deer, foxes, jackals, &c., so we loaded our guns with S.S.G. cartridges (which means, I may tell it to the uninitiated, buck-shot).  We were stationed on the outskirts of a splendid oak wood that looked like holding any mortal thing in the way of game.  Soon as the beaters set to work cocks began to fly about in all directions, but we had an instinct that something more important would turn up, so took no notice of feathered game.  I was watching close, trying to look through almost impenetrable brushwood, when I heard a rustling sort of noise near me, and suddenly I caught sight of something which almost made my hair stand on end—­a great tiger leopard, creeping, stealthily as a cat, out of the wood, within twenty yards of where I was standing.  Fortunately he did not look my way.  What was I to do?  My gun, as I said, was loaded with buck-shot; a miss or a wound would have been sure to bring the brute on top of me.  However, I did not hesitate more than a couple of seconds; I pointed my gun at his heart just behind the shoulder, and pulled the trigger.  The whole charge went straight where I pointed it, and the tiger rolled over on his back.  I put a ball into my gun and approached him very gingerly.  When I got close to him I found he hadn’t a kick in him.  His claws were crunched up as if grasping something, his grand eyes were growing dim, and though, to make all sure, I fired a ball into his head, it was not necessary, as I found nine buckshot in the heart.  He was a splendid beast, eleven feet from tip of tail to end of nose.  It was said that he had killed a shepherd some days before, so he deserved his fate.

Before returning to the ship that evening, we arranged that the Arabs should turn out the next day to drive the covers on the beach near the ship, which were supposed to hold deer and pigs.  I must mention that these Arabs are very different to the wandering tribes we had lately been amongst; they are warlike, unscrupulous, and dishonest.  We made an arrangement with them that all game killed should belong to us, the beaters being paid in gunpowder, which they prized very much.  The Arabs thought we should only find pig, and as Mussulmen won’t touch it, the bargain was considered satisfactory to both parties.