84 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST 



on the instant and a snarl of rage came back to us. A 

 second after, or so it seemed, the beast was back again in 

 the courtyard and at the foot of the stairway. The next 

 she was jumping up it. 



" Sahib, sahib, shoot, the shaitan is on us. It is the devil 

 of this place and is angered at our coming," came in a 

 quavering voice from the shikari. I hardly took in the 

 words at the time, but remember to have seen him, out of 

 the tail of my eye, fingering the little axe which was his 

 only weapon. I had only the one rifle with me as it was 

 the close season for most animals. 



The whole occurrence had taken place in a flash, and I 

 had little more than time to lean over to make sure of not 

 missing the leopard with my last barrel, for I had had no 

 time to reload. I wondered vaguely why she took so long 

 to get up the stairway, for a leopard should have got up 

 the place in a couple of bounds. And yet luckily she didn't 

 do that. When she was about two-thirds up I fired and hit 

 her in the back, dropping her in her tracks. She crouched 

 there for half a minute I should think holding on by main 

 force with her front claws. Then gradually her hold relaxed 

 and she slid down the stairs, bumping over the big gap, 

 and fell into the courtyard below, where she lay snarling 

 at us. Her back appeared to be broken, for though I had 

 hurriedly reloaded fully anticipating a second charge she 

 did not move, and another shot finished her. She lay quite 

 still, and after watching her for some time I turned to the 

 shikari and told him to go down and I would follow. But 

 to my amazement he would not budge. In reply to my 

 surprised queries he said that the devil of the place was in 

 that leopard, that he did not believe it was dead, that if it 

 was its spirit would pass into the man or animal who first 

 went near it, and that he was frightened. And he looked it 

 as he sat there grey in the face and shivering, with his eyes 

 protruding and fixed in a fascinated stare on the still body 

 of the leopard. As a matter of fact the man had an ordinary 

 bout of jungle ague on him, whether brought on by the 

 episode or due to come out at that moment in the ordinary 

 course of things I know not. He moved sufficiently to enable 

 me to get off the battlement on to the head of the stairway 

 and I went down this gingerly, rifle in hand. As I was 

 negotiating the break I noticed a mainah (the Indian star- 

 ling) alight in the entrance gateway. Bold as brass, as this 



