98 IN BRIGHTEST AFRICA 
fixed on fight, and if a leopard ever gets hold, it claws 
and bites until its victim is in shreds. All this was 
in my mind, and I began looking about for the best 
way out of it, for I had no desire to try conclusions 
with a possibly wounded leopard when it was so late 
in the day that I could not see the sights of my rifle. 
e Abour 1uds. , 
SCALE 
The dotted line indicates Mr. Akeley’s movement during his encounter 
with the leopard. The dashes show the route taken by the leopard. At 
position (1), Mr. Akeley fired into the bush. Of the three shots fired at 
position (2), two went above the leopard and the third inflicted only a skin 
wound, The hand-to-hand combat took place at position (3). 
My intention was to leave it until morning and if it 
had been wounded, there might then be a chance of 
findingit. I turned to the left to cross to the opposite 
bank of a deep, narrow ¢ug and when there I found 
that I was on an island where the ¢ug forked, and by 
going along a short distance to the point of the island 
I would be in position to see behind the bush where 
the leopard had stopped. But what I had started 
