For My Part, I Anxiously Awaited The Dawn;
And Even Before It Was Thoroughly Light I Was
On My Way To The Eventful Spot, As I Could Not
Completely Persuade Myself That Even Yet The
"Devil" Might Not Have Eluded Me In Some
Uncanny And Mysterious Way.
Happily my fears
proved groundless, and I was relieved to find
that my luck - after playing me so many
Exasperating tricks - had really turned at last.
I had scarcely traced the blood for more than
a few paces when, on rounding a bush, I was
startled to see a huge lion right in front of me,
seemingly alive and crouching for a spring.
On looking closer, however, I satisfied myself
that he was really and truly stone-dead,
whereupon my followers crowded round, laughed and
danced and shouted with joy like children, and
bore me in triumph shoulder-high round the
dead body. These thanksgiving ceremonies being
over, I examined the body and found that two
bullets had taken effect - one close behind the left
shoulder, evidently penetrating the heart, and the
other in the off hind leg. The prize was indeed
one to be proud of; his length from tip of
nose to tip of tail was nine feet eight inches,
he stood three feet nine inches high, and it took
eight men to carry him back to camp. The only
blemish was that the skin was much scored by the
boma thorns through which he had so often forced
his way in carrying off his victims.
The news of the death of one of the notorious
man-eaters soon spread far and wide over the
country: telegrams of congratulation came pouring
in, and scores of people flocked from up and down
the railway to see the skin for themselves.
CHAPTER IX
THE DEATH OF THE SECOND MAN-EATER
It must not be imagined that with the death
of this lion our troubles at Tsavo were at an end;
his companion was still at large, and very soon
began to make us unpleasantly aware of the fact.
Only a few nights elapsed before he made an
attempt to get at the Permanent Way Inspector,
climbing up the steps of his bungalow and prowling
round the verandah. The Inspector, hearing
the noise and thinking it was a drunken coolie,
shouted angrily "Go away!" but, fortunately
for him, did not attempt to come out or to
open the door. Thus disappointed in his attempt
to obtain a meal of human flesh, the lion
seized a couple of the Inspector's goats and
devoured them there and then.
On hearing of this occurrence, I determined
to sit up the next night near the Inspector's
bungalow. Fortunately there was a vacant iron
shanty close at hand, with a convenient loophole
in it for firing from; and outside this I placed
three full-grown goats as bait, tying them to a
half-length of rail, weighing about 250 lbs. The
night passed uneventfully until just before daybreak,
when at last the lion turned up, pounced
on one of the goats and made off with it, at
the same time dragging away the others, rail
and all.
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