Ill MR. RYALL KILLED BY LION 51 



off me, and I raised my head with a jerk. My face 

 immediately came in contact with a soft hairy body, 

 and I became conscious of a disagreeable smell. In 

 an instant I realised that there was a lion in the 

 railway carriage, and that at that moment it was 

 killing poor Mr. Ryall, as I heard a sort of gurgHng 

 noise, the only sound he ever made." 



Mr. Huebner seems to have awakened at the 

 same time, and to have at once jumped down on to 

 the floor of the carriage, where he and Mr. Parent! 

 and the lion were all mixed up together. At this 

 time the weight of the lion and the struggling men 

 combined slightly tipped the carriage to one side, 

 causing the sliding door to close automatically, and 

 thus materially increasing the horror of the situa- 

 tion. Mr. Parenti, as soon as he could collect his 

 thoughts, made his escape from the carriage through 

 the open window opposite to the one against which 

 poor Mr. Ryall had been sitting when the lion seized 

 him, and Mr. Huebner burst open the door com- 

 municating with the smaller compartment occupied 

 by Mr. Ryall's two Indian servants, who, having 

 become aware that there was a lion in the other 

 room with the " Sahibs," were holding the door 

 against the crowd with all their strength. Mr. 

 Huebner, however, who is a heavy, powerful man, 

 soon overcame their resistance. 



To do it justice, this lion does not seem to have 

 had any wish to make itself unnecessarily disagree- 

 able. It wanted something to eat, but, having got 

 hold of Mr. Ryall, seems never to have paid the 

 smallest attention to any one else. In all proba- 

 bility, I think, it had seen its victim's back and head 

 from outside against the open window, and, coming 

 round to the open door, had entered the carriage 

 and made straight for him, treading on Mr. Parenti's 

 sleeping form as it crossed the floor. It seized Mr. 

 Ryall by the throat just under the jaw, and must 



