156 Wild Beasts 



tent. I fired two shots, which were answered with a roar. 

 The din that followed would have frightened the devil. It 

 was a beautiful, clear night with a moon at the full, and 

 everything showed as plainly as at noonday. My servants 

 uttered exclamations of terror. The terriers went into an 

 agony of yelps and barks. The horses snorted and tried 

 to break loose, and my chowkeydar, who had been asleep 

 on his watch, thinking a band of Dacoits had come upon 

 us, began to lay about him with his staff, and shout, ' Chor ! 

 Chor ! lagga! lagga ! lagga!' that is, ' thief! thief! lay 

 on ! lay on ! lay on ! ' 



"The leopard was hit, and was evidently in a terrible 

 temper. She halted not thirty paces from the tent, beside 

 a Shanum tree, and seemed undecided whether to go on or 

 return and wreak her vengeance on me. That moment of 

 hesitation decided her fate. I snatched down my Express 

 rifle, which was hanging in two loops above my bed, and 

 shot her right through the heart. 



" I never understood how she could have made her way 

 past dogs, servants, horses, and watchman, into the tent, 

 without raising some alarm." 



Thus far, whether in courage, enterprise, and skill, 

 whether in sagacity, or desperation of attack and defence, 

 nothing has been found to traverse W. H. Lockington's 

 opinion (" Riverside Natural History ") to the effect that 

 panthers, " relatively to their size, are the fiercest, strong- 

 est, and most terrible of beasts." 



In ancient Egypt and modern Abyssinia lions formed 

 part of the royal paraphernalia. Marabouts lead around 

 sacred animals of this species in North Africa, and if they 



