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. I fired several shots in his direction,
but it was pitch dark and quite impossible to
see anything, so I only succeeded in hitting one
of the goats. I often longed for a flash-light on
such occasions.
Next morning I started off in pursuit and was
joined by some others from the camp. I found
that the trail of the goats and rail was easily
followed, and we soon came up, about a quarter
of a mile away, to where the lion was still busy
at his meal. He was concealed in some thick
bush and growled angrily on hearing our approach;
finally, as we got closer, he suddenly made a
charge, rushing through the bushes at a great
pace. In an instant, every man of the party
scrambled hastily up the nearest tree, with the
exception of one of my assistants, Mr. Winkler,
who stood steadily by me throughout.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 73 of 247
Words from 20125 to 20398
of 68125
