The defence of the accused was that a bush leopard had killed the boy. They admitted that they had concealed this fact and had given out that it was a snake-bite which had caused the death of the deceased, but they said that their reason for doing so was in order to save the father of the deceased, the first accused in the case, from certain penalties which he would have incurred had it come to the ears of the Poro Headman that he had allowed a “bushboy” who was still in the Poro to sleep in an open place outside the Poro bush. The position, shape, and character of the wounds were emphasized to show that it must have been a bush leopard which had caused them, and it was pointed out that it was an offence against the law of the country for any one to sleep in an open place exposed to danger, such as the barri where the boys had been permitted to sleep. The accused alleged that these “bushboys” should not have been allowed to sleep out of the Poro bush, and that it was an aggravation of the offence that they had been allowed to sleep in an open place like a barri; that the first accused, as head of the family, was the person on whom the blame would have fallen; and that he, for these reasons, persuaded the others to give out that it was a snake-bite which had caused death. If this was accepted, they urged, they would not be called on to show the spot where the boy was injured, and they added that the burial was hurried so that people should know as little about it as possible. Had the burial been delayed, the women might have got to know, and that would have been a further offence against Poro law. It was also submitted that it was contrary to nature that the first accused would have murdered his own son in such a cold-blooded manner. The prisoners were ably defended, but the arguments put forward for the defence did not create doubt as to the main facts deposed to by the witnesses for the Crown. From the evidence of the witnesses one thing emerged conclusively—viz. that it was no bush leopard which killed the boy, but that it was some person or persons simulating a leopard who murdered him; and the evidence of the other boys that they had heard the pattering of many feet outside the barri when they raised the alarm pointed to the fact that there were a number of persons concerned in the murder. The Court could come to no other conclusion than that the murder was committed in connection with the Human Leopard Society, and that the first and second accused were the actual murderers of the boy Kalfalla. These two men were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death, and were publicly executed at Mattru in the presence of the acting paramount chief and a large number of his people on the 25th January, 1913. [Illustration: BUNDU GIRLS AND DEVIL.]