For On The Night Of
December 27, I Was Suddenly Aroused By
Terrified Shouts From My Trolley Men, Who Slept
In A Tree Close Outside My Boma, To The Effect
That A Lion Was Trying To Get At Them.
It would
have been madness to have gone out, as the
moon was hidden by dense clouds and it
Was
absolutely impossible to see anything more than
a yard in front of one; so all I could do was to fire
off a few rounds just to frighten the brute away.
This apparently had the desired effect, for the men
were not further molested that night; but the
man-eater had evidently prowled about for some
time, for we found in the morning that he had
gone right into every one of their tents, and
round the tree was a regular ring of his
footmarks.
The following evening I took up my position
in this same tree, in the hope that he would make
another attempt. The night began badly, as,
while climbing up to my perch I very nearly
put my hand on a venomous snake which was
lying coiled round one of the branches. As may
be imagined, I came down again very quickly, but
one of my men managed to despatch it with a
long pole. Fortunately the night was clear and
cloudless, and the moon made every thing almost
as bright as day. I kept watch until about 2 a.m.,
when I roused Mahina to take his turn.
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