HYENAS AND CHILDBEN 253 



a herd of cattle are feeding, and to frighten them into 

 running away. If they fly, he follows and bites the 

 hindermost animals ; but if they make a stand, he seldom 

 or never fights. 



He may always be found prowling about African battle- 

 fields, after the dead bodies, or hiding amidst the ruins of a 

 deserted city, waiting for some unsuspecting creature to 

 come past ; but his greed is equal to his cowardice, and 

 he infinitely prefers human flesh to any other, when he 

 can get it without danger to himself. In some parts of 

 Africa hyenas will actually pass by a calf which is tied 

 up inside the dwelling-house, and will take up a sleeping 

 child from its mother's side, moving it so gently that 

 neither child nor mother wakes. 



This horrible event happened more than once in the 

 family of a man named Dassa, who lived in the land of the 

 Kaffirs. One night, when all were sleeping soundly, a 

 great hyena (or wolf, as it is called in those parts) stole 

 softly into the house, and picking up a little boy, made 

 for the door. Luckily, however, the child woke before it 

 was beyond help, and its cries brought its father to the 

 rescue. The hyena dropped his prey, and the boy escaped, 

 thankful to get off with a torn cheek. 



The next night the father lit a bigger fire than before 



—very few animals will venture past a fire — and lay down 



to sleep with his longest spear in his hand. But the 



hyena knew better than to come back so soon, and if he 



peeped in longingly, nobody was any the wiser. 



Several nights passed; the boy's cheek was almost 

 well, and the fright neai'ly forgotten. But one morning, 

 when they all woke, another brother was nowhere to he 

 seen. They searched high and low, with beating hearts, 

 and at length they came on the trail of a hyena, which 

 they followed up. Then at last the father came on some- 

 thing which he recognised as having belonged to the 

 boy, but nothing more was ever heard of the little fellow 

 himself. The terrible creature had managed to move him 



