CH. vin 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, I 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 



o 



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 



