The Encounter

Amelia was just flicking through a bunch of black and white pictures that her mother kept in a tin box in the study, when her attention was captured by an extraordinary picture.

It was a picture of a man and a leopard. The leopard was hanging by its hind legs tied with a rope. The man’s hair standing next to it looked rather disheveled. His both arms were heavily bandaged. He had a high forehead and wore a beard and a bushy moustache. He didn’t look very strong or tall but he stood there looking very triumphant, yet tired.

Amelia slipped the picture in her pocket and after putting the tin away, went to her mother.
“Mommy, whose picture is this?” she asked.
“Oh! Where did you find it?” and Amelia told her that she had found it in the tin her mother kept in the study shelf.
“I thought I had lost it, wait till your dad see it.” said Amelia’s mother, then looking at her daughter’s anxious expressions she told her to sit down and said “This brave man in the picture is your great-grandfather, yes your dad’s grandfather; Philip brown. His friend, Anthony Osborne, took this photograph back in 1898; see it’s still written at the back of the picture.”

Phillip Brown was a very brave man. He had had many adventures but this one nearly had him. He was fond of hunting but nothing had prepared him for this. The night he fought this leopard he was camping in the jungle.

That night he had run out of gun powder, because somehow the gunpowder bag was torn. He was in the habit of taking a stroll after dinner. So, that night after dinner he went for his regular stroll, not very far from the campsite. He had left his gun behind because he had run out of gunpowder, but he always kept a Cuban dagger with him holstered on his right leg.

After a while when he was just heading back to his camp, a leopard jumped in front of him out of nowhere. Phillip stood there facing the leopard alone, and the leopard growled as it measured its bait. As Phillip reached for his dagger the leopard jumped at him. He hit the ground hard and lost hold of his Cuban dagger, his only defense. Holding the leopard’s jaws with the left and fighting off the claws with the other, Phillip struggled free from the leopard. The leopard attacked again, and so, it went on.

Phillip opened his eyes when he heard some familiar voices nearby. The morning sun had dawned, and it had been a very long night. He lay there bruised and bleeding. His encounter with the leopard had left him awfully tired. Beside him lay the handsome leopard in its tawny fur with dark rosette-like markings on black fur. It was a rare one, that your great-grandfather had choked to death by thrusting a rock down its throat.

Soon his fellows arrived and found him on the ground wide awake. They took Phillip back not once did he wince while getting his wounds cleaned and bandaged. After a hot cup of tea and some bread Phillip was up on his feet. Anthony Osborne approached him and said, “Well done! My brave friend.” and with this he took his photograph with the leopard that his fellows had tied with a rope. Your great-grandfather was much celebrated for his bravery on his return home and still remembered for it to this very day. (590 words)