CHAPTER XXV 



A MAN-EATER IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE 



TOWARDS the end of my stay in British East 

 Africa, I dined one evening with Mr. Ryall, the 

 Superintendent of the Police, in his inspection 

 carriage on the railway. Poor Ryall ! I little 

 thought then what a terrible fate was to overtake 

 him only a few months later in that very carriage in 

 which we dined. 



A man-eating lion had taken up his quarters at a 

 little roadside station called Kimaa, and had devel- 

 oped an extraordinary taste for the members of the 

 railway staff. He was a most daring brute, quite 

 indifferent as to whether he carried off the station- 

 master, the signalman, or the pointsman ; and one 

 night, in his efforts to obtain a meal, he actually 

 climbed up on to the roof of the station buildings 

 and tried to tear off the corrugated- iron sheets. At 

 this the terrified baboo in charge of the telegraph 

 instrument below sent the following laconic message 



