286 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP. 
will be remembered, was sleeping on the floor. At 
this moment Huebner was suddenly awakened by a 
loud cry, and on looking down from his berth was 
horrified to see an enormous lion standing with his 
hind feet on Parenti’s body, while his forepaws 
rested on poor Ryall. Small wonder that he was 
panic-stricken at the sight. There was only one 
possible way of escape, and that. was through the 
second sliding door communicating with the ser- 
vants’ quarters, which was opposite to that by 
which the lion had entered. But in order to reach 
this door Huebner had literally to jump on to the 
man-eater’s back, for its great bulk filled up all. 
the space beneath his berth. It sounds scarcely 
credible, but it appears that in the excitement and 
horror of the moment he actually did this, and 
fortunately the lion was too busily engaged with 
his victim to pay any attention to him. So he 
managed to reach the door in safety ; but there, to 
his dismay, he found that it was held fast on the 
other side by the terrified coolies, who had been 
aroused by the disturbance caused by the lion’s 
entrance. In utter desperation he made frantic 
efforts to open it, and exerting all his strength at 
last managed to pull it back sufficiently far to allow 
him to squeeze through, when the trembling coolies 
instantly tied it up again with their turbans. A 
moment afterwards a great crash was heard, and the 
