In East Africa I had too much work
to do to be able to go any distance in search of
big game.
CHAPTER XXV
A MAN-EATER IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE
Towards the end of my stay in British East
Africa, I dined one evening with Mr. Ryall,
the Superintendent of the Police, in his inspection
carriage on the railway. Poor Ryall! I little
thought then what a terrible fate was to overtake
him only a few months later in that very carriage
in which we dined.
A man-eating lion had taken up his quarters at
a little roadside station called Kimaa, and had
developed an extraordinary taste for the members
of the railway staff. He was a most daring brute,
quite indifferent as to whether he carried off the
station-master, the signalman, or the pointsman;
and one night, in his efforts to obtain a meal,
he actually climbed up on to the roof of the
station buildings and tried to tear off the
corrugated-iron sheets. At this the terrified baboo in
charge of the telegraph instrument below sent the
following laconic message to the Traffic Manager:
"Lion fighting with station. Send urgent succour."
Fortunately he was not victorious in his "fight
with the station"; but he tried so hard to get in
that he cut his feet badly on the iron sheeting,
leaving large blood-stains on the roof. Another
night, however, he succeeded in carrying off the
native driver of the pumping-engine, and soon
afterwards added several other victims to his list.
On one occasion an engine-driver arranged to sit
up all night in a large iron water-tank in the hope
of getting a shot at him, and had a loop-hole cut in
the side of the tank from which to fire. But as
so often happens, the hunter became the hunted;
the lion turned up in the middle of the night,
overthrew the tank and actually tried to drag
the driver out through the narrow circular hole
in the top through which he had squeezed in.
Fortunately the tank was just too deep for the
brute to be able to reach the man at the bottom;
but the latter was naturally half paralysed with
fear and had to crouch so low down as to be
unable to take anything like proper aim. He
fired, however, and succeeded in frightening the
lion away for the time being.
It was in a vain attempt to destroy this pest
that poor Ryall met his tragic and untimely end.
On June 6, 1900, he was travelling up in his
inspection carriage from Makindu to Nairobi,
accompanied by two friends, Mr. Huebner and
Mr. Parenti. When they reached Kimaa, which
is about two hundred and fifty miles from Mombasa,
they were told that the man-eater had been seen
close to the station only a short time before
their train arrived, so they at once made up
their minds to remain there for the night and
endeavour to shoot him.
