-^ Leopards 



Another time, at the beg-inning of my severe illness 

 in 1902, on the banks of the Pangani River, an old and 

 very powerful leopard had taken flight with the trap and 

 grapnel and gone some distance in the sedge-grass, where 

 I found him after following his track for some time. The 

 reedy swamp, then dried up, was almost impassable, 

 and it seemed marvellous to me how the animal, hampered 

 with trap, chain, and staple, was able to get there at all. 

 At each step we expected to come upon the leopard. 

 We — that is, Captain Merker and myself — followed the 

 track of the trap, in company with some blacks. Our 

 companions soon found the situation unbearable, and 

 only the trustiest of them remained with us. 



On we went in the seethincy heat, carefullv lookincr 

 round us, and poking in the thick undergrowth with long 

 poles from time to time. Suddenly a snarling and a clanking 

 of chains were distinctly heard. Now was the time ! Mean- 

 while we two " Wasungu " (Europeans) pushed our way 

 cautiously in the marsh. Now and again we heard the 

 ominous snarl — the clank ot the chain. The ground 

 being so exceedingly dry it was impossible to make out 

 a track ; we thought for some time that it was not with 

 a full-grown leopard that we had to do. 



We pushed forward further and further. Suddenlv a 

 deep growl made the natives take to their heels, calling out 

 that they had clearly seen the head of a male lion ! 

 They stuck to their assertion. Slowly we sought, inch 

 by inch, to find a freer outlook in the marsh, by beating 

 down the reeds with our poles ; Captain Merker and I, 

 holding our rifles well up and expecting to see the beast 



411 



