I had to push her off by main force, and then
lie down on my back, so as to get the rifle up to fire. I was sure
the first shot was fatal, for I knew just where his heart would be,
but I dropped a second cartridge in, and gave him another bullet so
as to make sure. Well, if either of you want his head or his claws,
you had better say so at once, for the natives will be singeing
his whiskers off directly; the practice is a superstition of theirs."
"No, I don't want them," Wilson said. "If I had put a bullet into
the brute, so that I could have said I helped to kill him, I should
have liked the head to get it preserved and sent home to my people,
but as it is the natives are welcome to it as far as I am concerned."
Richards was of the same opinion, and so without further delay they
started back for the village, where, upon their arrival, they were
greeted with cries of joy by the women, the news having already
been carried back by a boy.
"Poor beggars!" the Doctor said. "They have been living a life of
terror for weeks. They must feel as if they had woke from a nightmare.
Now, lads, we will have some supper. I dare say you are ready for
it, and I am sure I am."
"Is there any chance for supper, Doctor?--why, it must be two
o'clock in the morning."
"Of course there is," the Doctor replied. "I gave orders to my man
to begin to warm up the food as soon as he heard a gun fired, and
I will guarantee he has got everything ready by this time.
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