u 4 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP. 



cause of the disturbance. I naturally thought that 

 the intruder was one of the "demons," but all I 

 could do was to fire several shots in the direction of 

 the hut, hoping to frighten him away. In spite of 

 these, however, it was some time before the noise 

 died down and everything became still again. As 

 soon as it was dawn I went to the shed to see what 

 had happened, and there, to my intense anger, I 

 found every one of my sheep and goats lying 

 stretched dead on the ground with its throat bitten 

 through. A hole had been made through the frail 

 wall of the shed, and I saw from this and from the 

 tracks all found that the author of the wholesale 

 slaughter had been a leopard. He had not eaten 

 one of the flock, but had killed them all out of pure 

 love of destruction. 



I hoped that he would return the next night to 

 make a mea* ; and should he do so, I determined to 

 have my revenge. I accordingly left the carcases 

 exactly as they lay, and having a very powerful 

 steel trap like an enormous rat-trap, and quite 

 strong enough to hold a leopard if he should put 

 his foot in it I placed this in the opening into the 

 shed and secured it by a stout chain to a long stake 

 driven into the ground outside. Darkness found 

 everyone in my botna on the alert and listening 

 anxiously to hear the noise the leopard would make 

 the moment he was caught in the trap. Nor were 



