CH. xxvin TWO LEOPARD STORIES 249 



the district abounded with leopards. For greater 

 safety, I used to pen the birds at night in a large 

 box, which I kept quite close to my tent ; but in 

 spite of all my precautions, I discovered, one morning, 

 that they had all disappeared. Having heard no 

 noise during the night, I came to the conclusion that 

 the birds had managed to find a way out of their 

 pen and strayed, and immediately sent out my boy in 

 search of them. He returned shortly afterwards, 

 saying that he had discovered them all dead in a 

 patch of bush, not far from my camp, and following 

 him to the spot, I found his story correct in every 

 detail. The whole thirteen were there, nearly every 

 one minus its head, while on the soft, damp ground 

 between my camp and the patch of bush, we could 

 clearly see the spoor of a leopard. It was evident 

 from the impressions of his feet that he had made a 

 separate journey for each duck, and there is little 

 doubt that he had seized the birds by the head to 

 prevent them creating the slightest noise. 



I laid all sorts of traps to entice that leopard 

 back to my camp, but he was a wily brute, and never 

 gave me the chance of putting a bullet into him. 



At this time, I had a bull-terrier, called Brandy, 

 whom I had reared from a puppy. He was a perfect 

 specimen of his breed, and on one occasion, at 

 Blantyre Dog Show, carried off the first prize for his 

 class against all British Central Africa. I was ex- 



