Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1892 — Stealthy. [ARTICLE]

Stealthy.

An Eastern traveler who has had many and varied encounters with wild animals in the heart of Africa, and has walked through many jungles, says that he concurs in the opinion commonly held by the natives of the countries he has visited, that the leopard is more dangerous than either the lion or the tiger. Its noiseless approach may be imagined, he says, from an incident which occurred to him in Abyssinia. I was watching a pool by moonlight, in a deep bend of the River Royal during the dry season. Hours passed, but nothing larger than an antelope appeared. We were sifting beneath a large tree, completely denuded of leaves, and the modn was shining brightly, throwing into sharp outline every bough. Suddenly my wife pulled my sleeves, and directed my attention to a large animal crouched upon the branches exactly above us. I might have taken a splendid shot, but I at first imagined it to be a dogfaced baboon that had been asleep in the tree. I stood erect to obtain a clearer view, and at once the creature sprang to the ground within a few feet of us, and bounded into the jungle. It was a leopard, which had probably reached the tree by means of some neighboring branches, and so noiselessly that we had not discovered its presence. The animal had evidently winded us, and was determined to reconnoiter our position.