The Man-Eaters of Tsavo, and Other East African AdventuresPatterson, J. H. (John Henry)
History
The Man-Eaters of Tsavo, and Other East African Adventures
Patterson, J. H. (John Henry)
Africa, East -- Description and travel; Hunting -- Africa, East; Uganda Railway
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. 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. The brute, however, did
not press his charge home: and on throwing stones into the bushes where
we had last seen him, we guessed by the silence that he had slunk off.
We therefore advanced cautiously, and on getting up to the place
discovered that he had indeed escaped us, leaving two off the goats
scarcely touched.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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