WITH FLASH-LIG.HT AND RIFLE 



leopards unawares when looking for them in the high 

 grass of the steppe. 



Once I almost stepped on a leopard which ran from 

 out the grass in front of me, so close that I was too 

 frightened to fire. When I did fire, I missed; a second 

 shot wounded the animal slightly. 



It is very hard to hit a fleeing leopard; it surely is 

 better for the hunter to miss the beast than merely to 

 wound it. A wounded leopard is a most dangerous 

 enemy when it turns and charges the hunter; its move- 

 ments, quick as lightning, hardly allow one to take aim. 

 Although I knew this from personal experience, and 

 although I had made up my mind to shoot leopards 

 only under favorable conditions, I always yielded to 

 the temptation whenever I got a chance to shoot. 



On one occasion my foolhardiness brought me within 

 an inch of losing my life. I noticed in the sand of the 

 steppe the tracks of a leopard dragging its prey. They 

 led me to the high bank of a ravine washed out by 

 rain. I went all around it and found that the animal 

 had not left it. Soon I made out the leopard lying 

 with its prey, a small antelope, in a hole under the 

 roots of a tree. But the beast had noticed me also. 

 Leaving its prey behind, the leopard tried to steal away; 

 at the same moment I fired. A trail of blood proved 

 that I had hit the animal but nnt killed it. Going 

 along the high and steep embankment, I noticed the 

 beast cowering, half hidden by the roots of a tree. 



236 



