CH. ix DEATH OF THE SECOND MAN-EATER 95 



from ; and outside this I placed three full-grown 

 goats as bait, tying them to a half-length of rail, 

 weighing about 250 Ibs. The night passed un- 

 eventfully until just before daybreak, when at last 

 the lion turned up, pounced on one of the goats 

 and made off with it, at the same time dragging 

 away the others, rail and all. I fired several shots 

 in his direction, but it was pitch dark and quite 

 impossible to see anything, so I only succeeded in 

 hitting one of the goats. I often longed for a flash- 

 light on such occasions. 



Next morning I started off in pursuit and was 

 joined by some others from the camp. I found 

 that the trail of the goats and rail was easily- 

 followed, and we soon came up, about a quarter 

 of a mile away, to where the lion was still busy 

 at his meal. He was concealed in some thick 

 bush and growled angrily on hearing our approach ; 

 finally, as we got closer, he suddenly made a 

 charge, rushing through the bushes at a great 

 pace. In an instant, every man of the party 

 scrambled hastily up the nearest tree, with the 

 exception of one of my assistants, Mr. Winkler, 

 who stood steadily by me throughout. The 

 brute, however, did not press his charge home : 

 and on throwing stones into the bushes where 

 we had last seen him, we guessed by the silence 

 that he had slunk off. We therefore advanced 



