When I approached, all the dogs were upon the animal, except a fierce little black bitch, generally the leader of the pack; I saw her dart through the canes with her nose on the ground, and her tail hanging low.  The panther was a female, very lean, and of the largest size; by her dugs I knew she had a cub which could not be far off, and I tried to induce the pack to follow the bitch, but they were all too busy in tearing and drinking the blood of the victim, and it was not safe to use force with them.  For at least ten minutes I stood contemplating them, waiting till they would be tired.  All at once I heard a bark, a growl, and a plaintive moan.  I thought at first that the cub had been discovered, but as the dogs started at full speed, following the chase for more than twenty minutes, I soon became convinced that it must be some new game, either a boar or a bear.  I followed, but had not gone fifty steps, when a powerful rushing through the canes made me aware that the animal pursued had turned back on its trail, and, twenty yards before me, I perceived the black bitch dead and horribly mangled.  I was going up to her, when the rushing came nearer and nearer; I had just time to throw myself behind a small patch of briars, before another panther burst out from the cane-brakes.

[Illustration:  “With a long and light spring it broke out of the canes.”]

I had never seen before so tremendous, and, at the same time, so majestic and so beautiful an animal, as with a long and light spring it broke out of the canes.  It was a male; his jaws were covered with foam and blood; his tail was lashing through the air, and at times he looked steadily behind, as if uncertain if he would run or fight his pursuers.  At last his eyes were directed to the spot where the bitch lay dead, and with a single bound he was again upon the body, and rolled it under his paws till it had lost all shape.  As the furious animal stood thus twenty yards before me, I could have fired, but dared not do so, while the dogs were so far off.  However, they soon emerged from the brake, and rushed forward.  A spirited young pup, a little ahead of the others, was immediately crushed by his paw, and making a few bounds towards a large tree, he climbed to the height of twenty feet, where he remained, answering to the cries of the dogs with a growl as loud as thunder.

I fired, and this time there was no struggle.  My ball had penetrated through the eye to the brain, yet the brute in its death struggle still clung on.

At last the claws relaxed from their hold, and it fell down a ponderous mass, terrible still in death.