THE ATBARA RIVER 95 



Nagi, the interpreter, pointed out to me a piece of 

 spotted hide six or seven paces off, and I fired into the 

 middle of it. The result was a growl and a few kicks, 

 when I fired again, after which came total silence. A 

 path was then cut to the animal, which turned out 

 to be a good male leopard, measuring 7 feet, and 

 weighing 110 Ib. quite a satisfactory result for the 

 night's work. Spent rest of day cleaning leopard- 

 skin. 0. left in afternoon. 



November 26th. Spent the night in bed. Got away 

 late in morning as I recollected that the new '350 

 rifle had not been cleaned for several days. Con- 

 sequently only saw one male Heuglin, and got no 

 shot at anything. Finished cleaning leopard-skin 

 and did some carpentering. Went down before dinner 

 to sit up in hole where I had shot previous leopard, 

 but nothing came. 



November 26th. Spent the entire night in the hole. 

 At 9 p.m. or so the goat gave a very loud call, but I 

 was not certain that anything had come. However, 

 the cord was tugged at very violently, and presently 

 there was a noise like tearing flesh. It was pitch dark, 

 but I aligned my rifle and turned on the light, and 

 saw a leopard eating the goat. On seeing the light, 

 he sat up like a cat facing me, and I fired for his chest, 

 when he disappeared with a growl. The 8-bore brass 

 cartridge split and jammed, and I anathematised the 



