MY SOMALI BOOK 59 



thought, and was trying to make sure which end of 

 the leopard was head and which was tail, when the 

 vague forms of two big hyaenas a few feet to one 

 side caught the corner of my eye. They caught the 

 leopard's eye too, and to my amazement he turned tail 

 and slipped away into the thicket behind my tree, for 

 all the world like a cat caught stealing the cream, 

 while the wardhas went in to dispose of his dinner ! 



I was never more disgusted in my life. Big, powerful 

 brute though the Spotted Hysena is, I would never 

 have believed that even a pair of them would venture 

 to attack a good-sized leopard, as this one appeared to 

 be, with his double armoury of tooth and claw, and his 

 agility so superior to their own ; and these two had 

 not, so far as I saw, made any motion to attack. On 

 the other hand, the ivardha in Somaliland, as I have 

 already shown, seems to be undoubtedly a more 

 aggressive animal than hysenas elsewhere, and if he 

 did make up his mind to attack a leopard I am not 

 sure that he would always come off second best. His 

 hide is tough and would afford very considerable 

 protection against the leopard's claws, while a single 

 bite from those terrible jaws might suffice to disable the 

 leopard effectually. 



On the present occasion the leopard, who is a re- 

 markable compound of daring and caution, had 

 probably seen more than was possible to me, and knew 

 that the numbers against him were overwhelming, 

 for hardly a minute had elapsed before there were 

 either six or seven hysenas fighting and tearing at the 

 still warm corpse of the unfortunate goat. A ghastly 

 orgie ! I held my hand until it was too dark to see the 



