cH. vit DEATH OF THE FIRST MAN-EATER 85 
guide snapped a rotten branch. The wily beast 
heard the noise, growled his defiance, and dis- 
appeared in a moment into a patch of even thicker 
jungle close by. In desperation at the thought of 
his escaping me once again, | crept hurriedly back 
to the camp, summoned the available workmen and 
told them to bring all the tom-toms, tin cans and 
other noisy instruments of any kind that could be 
found. As quickly as possible I posted them in 
a half-circle round the thicket, and gave the head 
jemadar instructions to start a simultaneous beating 
of the tom-toms and cans as soon as he judged that 
I had had time to get round to the other side. 
I then crept round by myself and soon found a 
good position and one which the lion was most 
likely to retreat past, as it was in the middle of a 
broad animal path leading straight from the place 
where he was concealed. I lay down behind 
a small ant hill, and waited expectantly. Very soon 
I heard a tremendous din being raised by the 
advancing line of coolies, and almost immediately, 
to my intense joy, out into the open path stepped 
a huge maneless lion. It was the first occasion 
during all these trying months upon which I had 
had a fair chance at one of these brutes, and my 
satisfaction at the prospect of bagging him was 
unbounded. 
Slowly he advanced along the path, stopping 
every few seconds to look round. I was only 
