As Soon As It Was Dawn I Went To The
Shed To See What Had Happened, And There, To
My Intense Anger, I Found Every One Of My Sheep
And Goats Lying Stretched Dead, On The Ground
With Its Throat Bitten Through.
A hole had been
made through the frail wall of the shed, and I
saw from this and from the tracks all round
that the author of the wholesale slaughter had
been a leopard.
He had not eaten one of the
flock, but had killed them all out of pure love of
destruction.
I hoped that he would return the next night
to make a meal; and should he do so, I determined
to have my revenge. I accordingly left the
carcases exactly as they lay, and having a very
powerful steel trap - like an enormous rat-trap,
and quite strong enough to hold a leopard if
he should put his foot in it - I placed this in the
opening into the shed and secured it by a stout
chain to a long stake driven into the ground
outside. Darkness found everyone in my boma
on the alert and listening anxiously to hear the
noise the leopard would make the moment he was
caught in the trap. Nor were we disappointed,
for about midnight we heard the click of the
powerful spring, followed immediately by frantic
roaring and plunging. I had been sitting all
evening with my rifle by my side and a lantern
lighted, so I immediately rushed out, followed by
the chaukidar (watchman) carrying the lamp.
As we approached the shed, the leopard made
a frantic spring in our direction as far as the
chain would allow him, and this so frightened
the chaukidar that he fled in terror, leaving me
in utter darkness. The night was as black as
had been the previous one, and I could see
absolutely nothing; but I knew the general
direction in which to fire and accordingly emptied
my magazine at the beast. As far as I could
make out, he kept dodging in and out through the
broken wall of the goat-house; but in a short
time my shots evidently told, as his struggles
ceased and all was still. I called out that he
was dead, and at once everyone in the boma
turned out, bringing all the lanterns in the place.
With the others came my Indian overseer, who
shouted that he too wanted revenge, as some of
the goats had belonged to him. Whereupon
he levelled his revolver at the dead leopard,
and shutting his eyes tightly, fired four shots in
rapid succession. Naturally not one of these
touched the beast, but they caused considerable
consternation amongst the onlookers, who
scattered rapidly to right and left. Next morning
a party of starving Wa Kamba happened to
be passing just as I was about to skin the leopard,
and asked by means of signs to be allowed to
do the job for me and then to take the meat.
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