At one time my own blacksmith had a nocturnal adventure with a leopard which afforded a striking example of audacity. A native cow had a calf; this being her first-born, the mother was exceedingly vicious, and it was unsafe for a stranger to approach her, especially as her horns were unusually long, and pointed. The cattle-shed was scarped out of the hillside, and was within a few feet of the blacksmith's house. The roof was thatched. During the night, a leopard, which smelt the presence of the cow and calf, mounted the roof of the shed and proceeded to force an entrance by scratching through the thatch. The cow at the same time had detected the presence of the leopard, and, ever mindful of her calf, she stood ready to receive the intruder, with her sharp horns prepared for its appearance. It is supposed that upon the leopard's descent it was at once pinned to the ground, before it had time to make its spring. The noise of a tremendous struggle aroused the blacksmith, who, with a lantern in his hand, opened the cattle-shed door and discovered the cow in a frantic state of rage, butting and tossing some large object to and fro, which evidently had lost all power of resistance. This was the leopard in the last gasp, having been run through the body by the ready horns of the courageous mother, whose little calf was nestled in a corner, unmindful of the maternal struggle. No sooner had the blacksmith appeared upon the scene, than the character of the conflict changed, and the cow, regarding him in the light of a fresh enemy, left the crumpled body of her antagonist and charged straight at her proprietor, who dropped his lantern and flew to the arms of his wife, whom he had left in bed. After some delay, during which the courage of all parties was restored, excepting that of the crippled leopard, the cow was appeased, and a shot from a pistol through the head of the enemy closed the episode. Every resident in India is aware of the depredations committed by this pestilent class of the carnivora. Lions and tigers may be dangerous in the jungles in every country which they inhabit, but they never invade the actual premises; it is exactly there where the leopard is to be feared. Nothing is too small or too large for its attack; from a fowl upon the roost to a cow in the pasturage, all that belongs to the domestic stock is fair game for the wily leopard.