THE LEOPARD 



yet fully recovered his health, he went out stalking 

 impallah antelopes accompanied by an Askari. He 

 met a leopard apparently bent on the same errand. 

 Mr. Hall fired at his competitor, but only wounded the 

 beast. Quick as Hghtning the leopard was upon the 

 hunter, burying its claws in his flesh. A shot fired by 

 the courageous Askari freed his master of the beast. 

 Mr. Hall was laid up again, but soon recovered. As 

 a lasting memento of this narrow escape, he has a stiff 

 leg, the sinews of which were torn by the leopard. 



Twice more I was about to Jdc attacked by wounded 

 leopards, but killed them before they got too near. 



The natives claim that the leopard is a "man-eater." 

 Old male leopards may become " man-eaters " when once 

 they have discovered "how easy it is to secure human 

 victims, but leopards generally do not indulge in steal- 

 ing and eating human beings. Occasionally, however, 

 they do attack them, chiefly women and children. Mr. 

 von Gordon, who travelled in East Africa a few years 

 ago, together with his brother and the late Mr. von 

 Tippelskirch, related to me a very interesting incident. 



They were sitting, one evening, at the camp-fire smok- 

 ing, when a fox-terrier, resting only a few feet away 

 from them, suddenly uttered a low cry and disappeared 

 from sight. A leopard had snatched him away. A 

 general hullabaloo ensued, shouting and shooting, but 

 to no avail. The dog was gone for good. Although 

 the guards were, after this occurrence, more than usu- 



239 



