ii APPEARANCE OF THE MAN-EATERS 25 



ceased, and quiet reigned for an hour or two. as 

 lions always stalk their prey in complete silence. 

 All at once, however, we heard a great uproar and 

 frenzied cries coming from another camp about half 

 a mile away ; we knew then that the lions had 

 seized a victim there, and that we should see or 

 hear nothing further of them that night. 



Next morning I found that one of the brutes had 

 broken into a tent at Railhead Camp whence we had 

 heard the commotion during the night and had made 

 off with a poor wretch who was lying there asleep. 

 After a night's rest, therefore, I took up my position 

 in a suitable tree near this tent. I did not at all like 

 the idea of walking the half-mile to the place after 

 dark, but all the same I felt fairly safe, as one of my 

 men carried a bright lamp close behind me. He in 

 his turn was followed by another leading a goat, which 

 I tied under my tree in the hope that the lion might be 

 tempted to seize it instead of a coolie. A steady 

 drizzle commenced shortly after I had settled down 

 to my night of watching, and I was soon thoroughly 

 chilled and wet. I stuck to my uncomfortable post, 

 however, hoping to get a shot, but I well remember 

 the feeling of impotent disappointment I experi- 

 enced when about midnight I heard screams and 

 cries and a heartrending shriek, which told me that 

 the man-eaters had again eluded me and had claimed 

 another victim elsewhere. 



