34 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP. 



rope, while sitting in safety within his tent ; and the 

 frightful noise thus produced was kept up at 

 frequent intervals during the night in the hopes of 

 terrifying away the man-eaters. In spite of all these 

 precautions, however, the lions would not be denied, 

 and men continued to disappear. 



When the railhead workmen moved on, their 

 hospital camp was left behind. It stood rather 

 apart from the other camps, in a clearing about 

 three-quarters of a mile from my hut, but was 

 protected by a good thick fence and to all appear- 

 ance was quite secure. It seemed, however, as if 

 barriers were of no avail against the "demons ", for 

 before very long one of them found a weak spot in 

 the boma and broke through. On this occasion the 

 Hospital Assistant had a marvellous escape. Hear- 

 ing a noise outside, he opened the door of his tent 

 and was horrified to see a great lion standing a few 

 yards away looking at him. The beast made a 

 spring towards him, which gave the Assistant such a 

 fright that he jumped backwards, and in doing so 

 luckily upset a box containing medical stores. 

 This crashed down with such a loud clatter of 

 breaking glass that the lion was startled for the 

 moment and made off to another part of the 

 enclosure. Here, unfortunately, he was more suc- 

 cessful, as he jumped on to and broke through a 

 tent in which eight patients were lying. Two of 



