THE "MAN-EATER" 229 



wounds in the upper part of the thigh, where the Uon's jaws 

 had seized him. As I had every surgical requisite at hand, 

 he was soon bandaged up, and he remained that night under 

 my tent. No one ventured to go to sleep, as we fully expected 

 the baffled man-eater would make another attempt before dawn. 

 The injured man was in great pain, and his moans were dis- 

 tressing. He told us a remarkable story — that, though the lion 

 had seized him and was carrying him off, he was still asleep ; 

 that our shouts woke him up, and to his horror he found that 

 he himself was the one being carried off by the lion, and then 

 he clasped his arms round the lion's neck and screamed. 



We were all wondering, why the lion did not pay us 

 another visit ; but it was explained next morning. A number of 

 Wakamba natives on their way to Mombasa to barter their 

 sheep and goats for cloth, beads, and brass-wire, had passed 

 us. They camped for the night about half-an-hour farther on. 

 The man-eater had visited them instead, and had carried oflf a 

 native and devoured him. The others had fled. The road next 

 day bore plain evidence of their headlong flight, being littered 

 with beans, broken provision bags, and some leather garments. 



With early dawn we left Tsavo ; the injured porter we 

 carried in a hammock. We saw the footprints of the lion 

 along the dusty road apparently following the Wakamba. Two 

 of my men declared that they saw the brute about mid-day, 

 standing panting under a shady bush by the roadside, with 

 the tongue hanging out of its mouth. I hurried up to them 

 with a loaded rifle, but saw nothing except the footprints, which 

 here did turn off the road. We made a double march, and 

 reached the camp at Ndi in safety, and saw nothing further 

 of the lion for the rest of the journey. The wounded man 

 progressed favourably, and on our reaching Mombasa, he in- 

 sisted on walking in the procession, supporting himself with a 

 stick. He refused to be carried or to be assisted by others. 

 The safe home-coming of a caravan to Mombasa is generally 

 a day of rejoicing with the porters. 



On my fifth journey — it was at Lake Nakuru — I had my first 

 shot at a lion. I was returning to camp, and within sight of it, 

 when I observed a jackal slinking round the base of a hillock. 

 Intending to get a shot at him, I hurried up the hillock. As I 

 reached the top, I heard shouts of *' Simba ! simba ! " (lion, 

 lion). I naturally turned round to see who were shouting, and 



