towards him I saw that a tiger had sprung
from the bush, almost within fifty paces of
him. It was crouching, lashing the angry
tail to and fro witli a heavy sweep in the
long grass, and preparing for a spring.

I looked for Brown.  He had a rifle; could
not afford to give a hasty shot; and, kneeling
on one knee, was taking a steady aim.
One glance told me this: the next moment
there was a spring, a kind of convulsive start
that broke the angry roar, and the creature
lay dead within a few feet of Brown. The
ball had struck it in the very centre of the
forehead.

I had neither fired nor spoken when I saw
the position of affairs: for if I had caused
the animal to change its position, or my
friend to start or look aside, his life might
have been sacrificed.

Two days after, when we met the Yankee
Smart, he said that under similar
circumstances, his bullet had passed through the
head, straight along the spine, and dropped
out at the tip of a tiger's tail.

One day, too, I shot a cobra-di-capella. "We
were wandering about among the ruins of a
Dutch fort, and I nearly trod on it. The
brute puffed up his hood, and prepared for a
spring; but I rewarded him with the
contents of my right-hand barrel. He was six
feet six inches in length, and would have
been a fine specimen, but the head was so
much shattered by shot, that I thought him
not worth keeping.

What a beautiful place the West Coast of
Africa is! I really believe that very few
people have an idea of the real nature of the
country. I know that we used to be
surprised at first when, every now and then,
after leaving the bush or the beach, we would
emerge on an expanse of beautiful park-like
country, with a sea of grass as green as in
England, and studded with islands of
magnificent trees; birds of every hue flitting about
and singing; hawks soaring overhead, waiting
to drop on the unwary; every now and
then, whir-r-r, up would fly a partridge, or a
hare scud away through the grass. Indeed,
it scarcely comes up to one's idea of the torrid
zone, and the sandy deserts of Africa.

We had our last day together down the
Saccoom. When we came to this river, we
had to get canoes from the opposite side;
and while we were waiting, all our boys laid
down, covered themselves up with sand, and
fell fast asleep. For a white man this would
be impossible; as, not to mention fever and
dysentery, as the certain result of such a
proceeding, there are mosquitoes and sand-flies
enough to devour you alive.

Going down the Saccoom was very much
like going up the Ogbomoshaw. Trees
and bushes grow down to the edge and in the
water; and overhead, the creepers interlace
the tree-tops, forming a canopy which the
rays of the sun never penetrate, but there is
a delicious subdued light like that from an
old stained-glass window. We had about
five miles paddling after the sun went
down, by no means pleasant or desirable on
account of the smell from the mangroves and
the decaying vegetable matter. At the mouth
of the river Brown and I parted; he to
return by my hammock to Ogbomoshaw;
I to sail with my Yankee friend to Oke
Amolo.

I went off at once to Captain Smart on
board the Sharpshooter. It was a dead calm,
and we lay for some hours hearing nothing
but the swash, swash of the ship as she rolled
from side to side.

At two, P.M., a breeze sprang up, and away
we went with every stitch of canvas we
could crowd. The breeze freshening, we made
for Oke Amolo the following morning, and
anchored at about six o'clock.

There was a tremendous swell rolling in,
and the sea breaking at about a mile from
the shore. However, Smart said that he
"meant going ashore," and of course I
accompanied him. I wanted him to wait for
a canoe that we then, saw putting off, but
he refused, saying, that he " knew that
thing would capsize, darned sudden."
Possibly; but no sailors are equal to the kroomen
through this surf, and their canoes live when
nothing else could. Indeed, it does not matter
how often their long light barques are
overturned. You see a great wave knock them
all to pieces; but a couple of black fragments
seethe up, the canoe is " all there," and those
black things are the kroomen. They swim
after the canoe, take hold of her one at each
end, and, holding her up at arm's length, let
the water drain out; then they right her, and
spring in as easily as if they were stepping
down from a landing-stage in the Thames.
I do not believe that it is in the power of
water to drown a krooman.

Smart, however, would take his own surf-boat,
and certainly she rode over the swell
like a duck. But, when we got within half-a-
mile of the shore and saw the surf breaking
over the reef, I thought we had better go
back. Smart looked straight before him,
and wished he might be teetotally,
something or other, if he went anywhere but
ashore.

We were now in the surf outside the reef,
and began to have an idea of what was in.
store for us. It was all very well so long as
we went with the rollers, but to reach the
shore we had to turn and get broadside on, and
these tremendous fellows breaking all round,
made it nervous work. We took about six
strokes, and then Smart — who is not nice in
his language—began to swear at the men
to pull hard and get the boat's head to the
roller; so that, as you may imagine, our
progress was but slow.

At last, we got opposite the landing-place,
and the tug of war consisted in turning the
boat's head in-shore, for we were bound to be
struck by one or more seas.