THE LOWER BENCHES. 



in all directions. Suddenly the beaters fell to 

 dead silence. Guessing this as a signal to me 

 that the beast had been seen, I ran to climb a 

 higher ant hill to the left. From there I dis- 

 cerned the animal plainly, sneaking along belly 

 to earth, exactly in the manner of a cat after a 

 sparrow. It was not a woods-leopard, but the 

 plains-leopard, or cheetah, supposed to be a com- 

 paratively harmless beast. 



At my shot she gave one spring forward and 

 rolled over into the grass. The nearest porters 

 yelled, and rushed in. I ran, too, as fast as I 

 could, but was not able to make myself heard 

 above the row. An instant later the beast 

 came to its feet with a savage growl and charged 

 the nearest of the men. She was crippled, and 

 could not move as quickly as usual, but could 

 hobble along faster than her intended victim 

 could run. This was a tall and very conceited 

 Kavirondo. He fled, but ran around in circles 

 in and out of his excited companions. The 

 cheetah followed him, and him only, with most 

 single-minded purpose. 



I dared not shoot while men were in the line 

 of fire even on the other side of the cheetah, for 

 I knew the high-power bullet would at that 

 range go right on through, and I fairly split my 



