54 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



ashore during the night, had taken the trap into the 

 river, and, hoping to discover some trace of Government 

 property, he got on his hands and knees and crawled 

 along the long dark hippo tunnel down which the track 

 led. After a time he came on the end of the chain, and, 

 thinking that the crocodile had got free, caught hold of it 

 in order to drag out the trap. The moment he touched 

 the chain, a terrific growl came out of the darkness close 

 ahead of him, and he heard the clanking of the iron. 

 The time which he took to get out of that tunnel was 

 remarkably short ; but, if the branch to which the trap 

 was fastened had not caught in the drift-wood, he would 

 scarcely have been quick enough ; as it was, the leopard 

 emerged from the passage only a fraction of a second 

 after the man, and it was doubtless a sufficiently narrow 

 escape for the latter. 



For its size it is probable that a wounded leopard is 

 a more dangerous beast than even a lion in a similar 

 case. Not only is he, as a rule, pluckier, but he is less 

 ready to leave a prostrate enemy than is his larger cousin, 

 and will go on biting and tearing until killed or driven 

 off. In addition, he is far more agile, and, owing to 

 his small size, presents a more difficult mark for the rifle 

 when charging. Wolhuter, who shot one almost at his feet, 

 said that the two points which specially remained fixed 

 in his memory were the pace the beast came at and its 

 insignificance as a target. A sportsman who recently 

 was badly injured by a leopard in East Africa, remarked 

 that his sensation was as though a glorified tennis ball 

 was coming at him, and, so rapid was the onslaught, 

 that he had not even time to pull the trigger before the 

 beast was on him. Years ago in the eastern Transvaal, 

 a party of hunters had driven a wounded leopard into 

 some reeds, and while the others took their stations 



