The Donkey Was Badly Wounded,
And The Lion Was Just About To Seize The Trader,
When In Some Way Or Other His Claws Became
Entangled In A Rope By Which Two Empty Oil Tins
Were Strung Across The Donkey's Neck.
The rattle
and clatter made by these as he dragged them
after him gave him such a fright that
He turned tail
and bolted off into the jungle, to the intense relief
of the terrified bunniah, who quickly made his
way up the nearest tree and remained there,
shivering with fear, for the rest of the night.
Shortly after this episode, a Greek contractor
named Themistocles Pappadimitrini had an equally
marvellous escape. He was sleeping peacefully
in his tent one night, when a lion broke in, and
seized and made off with the mattress on which
he was lying. Though, rudely awakened, the
Greek was quite unhurt and suffered from nothing
worse than a bad fright. This same man, however,
met with a melancholy fate not long afterwards.
He had been to the Kilima N'jaro district to buy
cattle, and on the return journey attempted to
take a short cut across country to the railway,
but perished miserably of thirst on the way.
On another occasion fourteen coolies who slept
together in a large tent were one night awakened
by a lion suddenly jumping on to the tent and
breaking through it. The brute landed with one
claw on a coolie's shoulder, which was badly
torn; but instead of seizing the man himself, in
his hurry he grabbed a large bag of rice which
happened to be lying in the tent, and made off
with it, dropping it in disgust some little distance
away when he realised his mistake.
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