almost completely away, and yet it had lived to charge ferociously
upon me, and but for my third shot would doubtless have slain me
before it finally expired--or as Bowen Tyler so quaintly puts it,
before it knew that it was dead.

With the panther quite evidently conscious of the fact that dissolution
had overtaken it, I turned toward the girl, who was regarding me
with evident admiration and not a little awe, though I must admit
that my rifle claimed quite as much of her attention as did I. She
was quite the most wonderful animal that I have ever looked upon,
and what few of her charms her apparel hid, it quite effectively
succeeded in accentuating. A bit of soft, undressed leather was
caught over her left shoulder and beneath her right breast, falling
upon her left side to her hip and upon the right to a metal band
which encircled her leg above the knee and to which the lowest
point of the hide was attached. About her waist was a loose leather
belt, to the center of which was attached the scabbard belonging
to her knife. There was a single armlet between her right shoulder
and elbow, and a series of them covered her left forearm from elbow
to wrist. These, I learned later, answered the purpose of a shield
against knife attack when the left arm is raised in guard across
the breast or face.

Her masses of heavy hair were held in place by a broad metal band
which bore a large triangular ornament directly in the center of
her forehead. This ornament appeared to be a huge turquoise, while
the metal of all her ornaments was beaten, virgin gold, inlaid in
intricate design with bits of mother-of-pearl and tiny pieces of
stone of various colors. From the left shoulder depended a leopard's
tail, while her feet were shod with sturdy little sandals. The