MY SOMALI BOOK 169 



little electric lamp, which showed a beautiful leopard 

 lying by the kill : the most cleanly spotted I have 

 ever seen. I then turned the lamp in the direction 

 where the first wounded animal had been lying, but 

 could see nothing, and all sounds from there had ceased. 

 Cautiously reconnoitring the open ground, which ex- 

 tended some forty yards or so from the zariba, we soon 

 made certain there was nothing there, and were forced 

 to the conclusion that, impelled by the sound of the 

 shots at No. 2, the first wounded beast had contrived 

 to drag itself a few yards further into the bush, where, 

 of course, there was no choice but to leave him until 

 daylight. 



Presently came an ominous sound, the call of a 

 spotted hyaena, from the same direction. It was 

 repeated again and again, all too effectively, for in a 

 short time it was easy to judge that there must be half 

 a dozen of the foul brutes assembled round their djdng 

 foe, waiting with ghoulish patience, or impatience, 

 for the end, which none were found as yet with the 

 courage to go in and strike the first blow to hasten ; 

 ever and anon a low growl, feeble and feebler yet, 

 bidding them keep their distance. The scene, vivid 

 enough to one's mind's eye, recalled some one's 

 picture of " the dying King." By this time I had no 

 doubt that we had had to deal with leopards all along, 

 and that there had been no lions about at all. But 

 Abdilleh was not convinced and still maintained that 

 the goat had originally been killed by a lioness. Well ! 

 the leopard with his wonderful caution and his no 

 less wonderful audacity is a beast of infinite variety, 

 and my own experience warns me to be chary of 



