140 SPORT IN THE EASTERN SUDAN 



January 25th. In the early morning I crossed over 

 to the left bank of the Settit, and examined the 

 khor where I had seen the track of a lion. There were 

 no more marks of lion, but a leopard had crossed the 

 mouth of the khor, and as there was a suitable tree 

 I spent the morning in constructing a machan. The 

 afternoon was spent giving an edge to my various 

 axes, billhooks, knives, etc. In the evening I tied 

 up a goat, and sat in the machan till dinner-time 

 without result. 



January 26th. Having returned to the machan for 

 the night, at about 1 a.m. my attention was attracted 

 by a sniff of alarm from the goat, precisely like the 

 well-known call of alarm of ibex. It was pitch dark, 

 but the goat had undoubtedly discerned its enemy, 

 for after a few seconds more there was the sound of 

 a scuffle, a few cries from the goat, and then silence. 

 By this time I had aligned my rifle on the white form 

 of the goat, making a slight noise in the process, 

 which in all probability explained the dead silence 

 after the goat had been killed. However, I lay quite 

 still, and after a few minutes heard a crunching 

 noise, and at once turned on the light. The illumina- 

 tion was not first-rate, being partly obscured by thorns, 

 but I was able to see a leopard crouching over the 

 goat immediately facing me, and taking a long and 

 careful aim amidships I pulled the trigger. The 

 report of the -500 Express awoke the entire neigh- 



