qualms of my conscience interfering with the sport; so he held a strict watch over me, and politely but firmly kept me in my proper position.

All this time we were circling round and round the herd of antelopes, drawing nearer and nearer with each circle, until we had approached quite close to a fine buck feeding a little apart from the others.

A few whispered words from the huntsman to the keeper of the cheetah which was in the foremost cart caused the man to unfasten very gently the iron chains which secured the fierce brute to the cart, and cheetah as well as keeper slipped noiselessly down on the ground under cover of a little bush.

Still the carts crept slowly on. I could see everything by turning my head, and looking back as we moved away from the bush.

In half a moment the heavy collar was off the cheetah's neck, and the hood lay on the grass behind him. With a soft whisper in his ear, just as if he had been a tame cat instead of a ravenous wild beast, the keeper took the huge head between his hands and turned it in the direction of the buck (who was keeping an eye on the carts), and let the cheetah go, at the same moment gliding quite under shelter of the bush.

Exactly as a cat would approach an unsuspecting mouse did the cheetah steal through the long grass towards his prey. Almost flat to the ground,

he crept along with his terrible eyes fixed on it till he was within about fifty yards off; then up he rose, sudden and swift, with every hair of his

magnificent coat bristling on end, with his powerful tail lashing the ground, and his lips drawn back from the strong, cruel teeth.

Two enormous bounds carried him close to the buck, who stood for an instant as if paralysed, and then turned to fly,-but it was too late. A third spring with a howl of fury brought the cheetah on his back, with his teeth in the graceful neck which a moment before had held the antlered head up so proudly.

I saw the buck drop on his knees, and the keeper rush up to secure the cheetah again before he should begin to tear the venison, and then I could see no more. The gentlemen galloped off to the spot, and I remained under shelter of the cart with my face buried in my hands, sobbing as if my heart would break. I was so sorry for the poor buck!-Lady Barker.

When the earth is dry and weary the sky refreshes it with rain. The hungry sea is perpetually fed by the rivers; and when the sky is bright with burning heat, the sea sends up vapours to enrich it with fruitful clouds. Thus the world is always kept fresh and beautiful.

ON the last house in a little village the storks had built a nest; and the mother stork sat in it with her four young ones, who stretched out their necks and pointed their black beaks, which had not yet turned red like those of the parent birds.

A little way off, on the edge of the roof, stood the father stork, quite upright and stiff: not liking

to be quite idle, he drew up one leg, and stood on the other, so still that it seemed almost as if he were carved in wood.

"It must look very grand," thought he, "for my wife to have a sentry guarding her nest. They do not know that I am her husband; they will think I have been commanded to stand here, which is quite aristocratic ;" and so he continued standing on one leg.

In the street below were a number of children at play, and when they caught sight of the storks, one of the boldest amongst the boys began to sing a song about them, and very soon he was joined by the rest.

These are the words of the song, but each sang only what he could remember of them in his own way :

Stork, stork, fly away,

Stand not on one leg, I pray;
See your wife is in her nest,
With her little ones at rest.

They will hang one,

And fry another;
They will shoot a third,

And roast his brother."

"Just hear what those boys are singing," said the young storks; "they say we shall be hanged and roasted."

"Never mind what they say; you need not listen," said the mother. They can do no

harm."

But the boys went on singing and pointing at