76 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP. 



state of fright that if they caught sight of a hyaena, 

 or a baboon, or even a dog, in the bush, they were 

 sure to imagine it was a lion ; but I found out next 

 day that it was an actual fact, and that both station- 

 master and signalman had been obliged to take 

 refuge from one of the man-eaters by locking them- 

 selves in the station building. 



I waited some little time for Mr. Whitehead, but 

 eventually, as he did not put in an appearance, I 

 concluded that he must have postponed his journey 

 until the next day, and so had my dinner in my 

 customary solitary state. During the meal I heard a 

 couple of shots, but paid no attention to them, as 

 rifles were constantly being fired off in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the camp. Later in the evening, I 

 went out as usual to watch for our elusive foes, and 

 took up my position in a crib made of sleepers 

 which I had built on a big girder close to a camp 

 which I thought was likely to be attacked. Soon 

 after settling down at my post, I was surprised to 

 hear the man-eaters growling and purring and 

 crunching up bones about seventy yards from the 

 crib. I could not understand what they had found 

 to eat, as I had heard no commotion in the camps, 

 and I knew by bitter experience that every meal the 

 brutes obtained from us was announced by shrieks 

 and uproar. The only conclusion I could come to 

 was that they had pounced upon some poor un- 



