After Big Game in Central Africa 



claws of one of the feet of the animal, and in an instant 

 we find the track behind the hut, which proves that 

 he passed round it. By the side of the track are 

 marks left by one of the feet of the child, whom he 

 must have seized by the top of the body. The animal 

 followed one of the village streets leading to the 

 river, passing with his load before more than twenty 

 huts, the people in which must only have been 

 awakened by cries after his passage. We thus reach 

 the edge of the stream where the animal stopped, 

 depositing his victim by his side as indicated by a 

 little pool of blood ; then he crossed the river, which 

 contains a foot of water, descending the stream for 

 four or five yards, and entered the reeds which border 

 it. Before following him I send Tambarika to see if 

 there are any traces of his exit at the far edge of that 

 thick undergrowth. A w r ell-known whistle tells us 

 that there are : so we take the footpath, to arrive more 

 quickly. After passing through some grass, where a 

 fresh red pool indicates another stoppage, we enter a 

 little plain, still on the track of the nocturnal male- 

 factor; a wood comes after that, and in it we find 

 clots of blood and the belt of pearls which the 

 little fellow wore round his loins, then his loincloth 

 torn off by a bush. A large pool of blood shows 

 the spot where the animal began to tear its victim 

 to pieces ; but that was already more than an hour 

 ago. At last, at the opposite edge of the w^ood, we 

 enter the tall grass, when a growl makes us stop dead. 

 We all listen. The enemy is there ! Is he going to 

 charge ? . . . Nothing more is heard ... I cock my 



