Still We Were Not Unduly Dejected, And When
Morning Came, A Hunt Was At Once Arranged.
Accordingly We Spent The
Greater part of the day
on our hands and knees following the lions through
the dense thickets of thorny jungle,
But though
we heard their growls from time to time, we
never succeeded in actually coming up with them.
Of the whole party, only Farquhar managed to
catch a momentary glimpse of one as it bounded
over a bush. Two days more were spent in
the same manner, and with equal unsuccess;
and then Farquhar and his sepoys were obliged
to return to the coast. Mr. Whitehead also
departed for his district, and once again I was
left alone with the man-eaters.
CHAPTER VIII
THE DEATH OF THE FIRST MAN-EATER
A day or two after the departure of my allies,
as I was leaving my boma soon after dawn on
December 9, I saw a Swahili running excitedly
towards me, shouting out "Simba! Simba!"
("Lion! Lion!"), and every now and again looking
behind him as he ran. On questioning him I
found that the lions had tried to snatch a man
from the camp by the river, but being foiled
in this had seized and killed one of the donkeys,
and were at that moment busy devouring it not
far off. Now was my chance.
I rushed for the heavy rifle which Farquhar had
kindly left with me for use in case an opportunity
such as this should arise, and, led by the Swahili,
I started most carefully to stalk the lions, who,
I devoutly hoped, were confining their attention
strictly to their meal. I was getting on splendidly,
and could just make out the outline of one of them
through the dense bush, when unfortunately my
guide snapped a rotten branch. The wily beast
heard the noise, growled his defiance, and
disappeared in a moment into a patch of even
thicker jungle close by. In desperation at the
thought of his escaping me once again, I crept
hurriedly back to the camp, summoned the available
workmen and told them to bring all the tom-toms,
tin cans, and other noisy instruments of
any kind that could be found. As quickly as
possible I posted them in a half-circle round the
thicket, and gave the head jemadar instructions
to start a simultaneous beating of the tom-toms
and cans as soon as he judged that I had had
time to get round to the other side. I then
crept round by myself and soon found a good
position and one which the lion was most likely
to retreat past, as it was in the middle of a broad
animal path leading straight from the place where
he was concealed. I lay down behind a small
ant hill, and waited expectantly. Very soon
I heard a tremendous din being raised by the
advancing line of coolies, and almost immediately,
to my intense joy, out into the open path stepped
a huge maneless lion.
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