102- . ; : . MY SOMALI BOOK 



per head of game killed (not wounded) on the Somali- 

 land plateaux in August. 



On the night of the 7th August, I did not sleep in 

 our zariba but in a small thorn shelter beyond the pool 

 which was furthest away and nearest to the bush, 

 having a goat tied up outside. Henduleh was with me 

 and we took it in turns to watch. At about 2 a.m. 

 he roused me, as the goafc was behaving somewhat 

 suspiciously. Presently I saw a vague form rise from 

 the ground to my right front and walk behind the 

 shelter. I waited. After about five minutes the rush 

 came, from the left, and there was a round head with 

 teeth holding the goat by the back of the neck and 

 pulling its head down. A leopard I said to myself, 

 and a big one, though I should have expected him to 

 go for the throat, and fired at once at the face, which 

 was all I could see. It was foolish not to wait and 

 make more sure of mv elevation, for it was too dark to 

 distinguish the card on my foresight. However, one 

 always feels that the beast is bound to detect one so 

 close, and be off, and previous experience had shown 

 that this feeling was not without justification. The 

 natural tendency in the dark is to shoot high, and in 

 this case my bullet must have just passed over the 

 enemy's head, and the visitor was gone. 



Morning's light on the tracks showed the beast to 

 have been no leopard, but a lioness. It had been a 

 bad let-off though an extremely easy thing to do. 

 But consolation was in store. 



When I reached my tent I found an old man had 

 turned up with news : a lion had invaded his zariba 

 just after dark th^ previous night, knocked down 



