"It would be of no use to me." "Then, with your permission, I will take it off, and keep it as long as I live, as a remembrance of the narrowest escape that I ever had." "Is your comrade dead ?" "Yes," the man replied.

"The leopard struck him between the shoulders as you see; and the force of the blow, and the weight of the spring, must have killed him instantaneously." "Then I will take his sword, gun, and cartridges." So Stanley undid the sword belt, and buckled it round him; put the bandolier of cartridges over his shoulders; and took up the gun and reloaded it, while the man was at work skinning the leopard.

This operation the man performed with great speed.

It was evidently one that he had done before.

As soon as the beast was flayed, he rolled up the skin and placed it on his shoulder.
"You are an officer, sir ?" he asked.
"No; I am a fugitive." While he had been watching the man, Stanley had debated over whether he should confide in him; and thought that, after the service he had rendered him, he could do so with safety.
"I am an Englishman--I was captured by Bandoola, at Ramoo, and sent a prisoner to Ava.