A MORTAL COMBAT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 105, 22 August 1876, Page 2

A MORTAL COMBAT.

About three years ago, a leopard tookit into his head to try the beefstakes of a very savage and sharp-horned cow, who, Avith her calf, was the property of a blacksmith. It was a dark, rainy night, the blacksmith and his wife were in bed, and the cow an! her calf were nestled in the warm strai of the cattle shed. The door was locked, and all was apparently secure when tie hungry leopard prowled stealthily round the cow-house, snuffing the prey within. The strong smell of the leopard si once alarmed the keen senses of the cow, made doubly acute by lier anxiety for her little charge, and she stool, ready for the danger, as the leopard, having mounted on the roof, commenced scratching his way through the thatch. Down he sprang, but with a splendid charge the cow pinned him against the wall, and a battle ensued, which can easilf be imagined. A coolie slept in the corner of the shed, whose wandering "senses we completely scattered when he found himself the unwilling umpire of the fight He rushed out and shut the door. In i few minutes he succeeded in awakenii" the blacksmith, who struck a light, ari proceeded to load a pistol, the c 4 weapon he possessed. During the AvhoU of this time the bellowing of the cor, the roars of the leopard, and the thumping, shuffling, and tramping whicl proceeded from the cattle shed explained the savage nature of the figW The blacksmith, who was no sport? man, shortly found himself with a 1® tern in one hand, and a pistol in the other, and no idea what he meant to do. Hi waited, therefore, at the cattle shed door, and holding the lights so as to shine through the numerous small apertures in the shed, he looked in. The leopard vaj no longer growling, but the cow was mad with fury. She alternately threw a larg' dark mass above her head, then quicklj pinned it to the ground on its descent, then bored it against the wall as it craw'la helplessly towards a corner of the shei This was the beef-eater in reduced circiw stances ? This gallant cow had ne®! killed him, and was giving him the finishing strokes. The blacksmith perceive the leopard's helpless state, and bold? opened the door ; he discharged the pis l "-; and the next moment was bolting as lisj 1 * as he could, with the cow after him • was regularly <£ up," and was ready k ,! anything or anybody. However, she at length pacified, and the dying leopafputoutof its misery.—"Eight years " Ceylon," by Sir S. Baker.