254 HYENAS AND CHILDREN 



so softly, that the child had never opened his eyes till it 

 was too late, and then he saw the face of his deadly 

 enemy above him. It really seems almost as if hyenas 

 had indeed the power of casting a spell over their prey. 



Made bold by this success, the hyena prowled nightly 

 round the house till he thought he could safely venture 

 in. This time, the child lying nearest the door was a 

 boy of about ten, and therefore noi so easy to deal with 

 as the other two. In spite of this, the monster managed 

 to get him outside the hut, and then dropping him for a 

 moment, seized him again by the shoulder. The child, 

 now fully awake, gave him such a blow on the nose that 

 the hyena let go his shoulder, but grasping his collar- 

 bone firmly with his teeth, broke it in two. The boy still 

 hit out, though his right arm was disabled, and again the 

 hyena shifted his hold to the thigh, and ran off with his 

 victim just as the father, roused from sleep by the boy's 

 cries, rushed to the spot. For a quarter of a mile the 

 chase continued, and then a fierce blow forced the animal 

 to drop the boy. When brought to the camp of the 

 Englishmen to be doctored, his thigh was found to be 

 half-bitten through, though fortunately the bone was not 

 broken. Every possible care was given to him, and in a 

 few months his leg was quite cured. 



A little girl, two years younger, did not escape so easily. 

 One very hot morning, she was lying under the shade of 

 a tree, when four hyenas suddenly appeared before her, 

 and carried her off between them. One took hold of her 

 head, a second seized her shoulder, and the other two 

 grasped her thighs. The child's shrieks brought the 

 village people flying to her help, and they soon managed 

 to beat off the hyenas, but not before the child was 

 dreadfully injured. Savage nations have not much 

 patience with sick or deformed people, even when part of 

 their own family ; and after trying all their medicines on 

 her for a few days without making her any better, they 

 got tired of the whole affair. A choice was given the 



