286 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP. 



will be remembered, was sleeping on the floor. At 

 this moment Huebner was suddenly awakened by a 

 loud cry, and on looking down from his berth was 

 horrified to see an enormous lion standing with his 

 hind feet on Parenti's body, while his forepaws 

 rested on poor Ryall. Small wonder that he was 

 panic-stricken at the sight. There was only one 

 possible way of escape, and that was through the 

 second sliding door communicating with the ser- 

 vants' quarters, which was opposite to that by 

 which the lion had entered. But in order to reach 

 this door Huebner had literally to jump on to the 

 man-eater's back, for its great bulk filled up all 

 the space beneath his berth. It sounds scarcely 

 credible, but it appears that in the excitement and 

 horror of the moment he actually did this, and 

 fortunately the lion was too busily engaged with 

 his victim to pay any attention to him. So he 

 managed to reach the door in safety ; but there, to 

 his dismay, he found that it was held fast on the 

 other side by the terrified coolies, who had been 

 aroused by the disturbance caused by the lion's 

 entrance. In utter desperation he made frantic 

 efforts to open it, and exerting all his strength at 

 last managed to pull it back sufficiently far to allow 

 him to squeeze through, when the trembling coolies 

 instantly tied it up again with their turbans. A 

 moment afterwards a great crash was heard, and the 



