Doctor Hermann, foolishly we thought, hailed him successively in German, in English, and in Latin, but he made no sound in reply. He was examining us minutely, evidently full of confidence in the superiority of his size and strength. He must have looked upon us with much the same contemptuous wonder as the old travellers viewed the race of dwarfs that they assure us inhabit the vast forests of Central Africa. Sandy at last hurled at him a perfect torrent of honest Gaelic, which only seemed to rouse his anger, and he uttered several sounds which were evidently meant for words of warning, in a loud, imperious, but not unpleasant voice. His arm was raised as if in threat towards us, and all of us felt thoroughly alarmed, except the Doctor, who advanced a step towards him with both hands held out as if in greeting. At this he pointed the long rod he was carrying towards one of the curious animals we had previously met with near the lake, which happened to be grazing quietly half-a-mile away, and within a second of time we saw the poor creature leap into the air and drop dead! We heard no report, we saw no flash! This was too much for Sandy, and before we could prevent him his revolver was drawn, pointed at the unknown stranger, and fired once, twice, three times into his stalwart body! At the first shot he screamed with pain, and tried to level his rod at us; at the second he fell to the ground; the result of the third we never learned, for we all turned and fled as if for our lives towards the friendly cover which sheltered the _Sirius_. As we ran behind the welcome shelter of the low hills we noticed several more of these strange beings, hastening from various directions to their fallen comrade; and as we had every reason to dread the deadly weapons with which they were most probably armed, we were glad to reach the wooded country and seek our refuge under the cover of the trees. With thankful hearts we reached the _Sirius_, finding everything as we had left it. Doctor Hermann was angry beyond all measure with Sandy for his foolishness in shooting without just provocation, and threatened that if he did not keep more command over himself in future, he should not carry firearms at all. "This, Temple, is a most unfortunate occurrence--most unfortunate for us all," continued the Doctor, after he had finished lecturing Sandy, who was now all contrition, and cursing himself for his stupid blunder. "There is no telling what may happen now; it is impossible to estimate the amount of misfortune this unwarranted attack on a harmless being may bring upon us. It is folly now to think of visiting that fair city yonder, on foot, as I so much desired." "I quite agree with you, Doctor; yet, after all, there is some little excuse for poor Sandy. Matters certainly looked threatening; my own hand, too, was on my revolver at the time."