THE LEOPARD 



At one time, in 1902, an animal, which proved to be 

 a strong adult leopard, had been caught in a trap near 

 the Pangani River, and had made its escape, dragging 

 trap, chain, and anchor after it into a reed thicket. 

 Captain Merker and I, with a few courageous natives, 

 entered the thicket, the natives pushing the reeds aside 

 with long poles, and the captain and I on the qui vive 

 with cocked rifles. 



The heat in the thicket was almost suffocating, and 

 we made slow headway. Suddenly we heard the rat- 

 tling of iron and a deep growl. The animal could not 

 be far from us; but where? The dry, hard ground did 

 not show any traces of it. For some time we advanced, 

 guided only by the noise of chain and animal. We 

 thought for a while it might be a lion, and the natives 

 with us were absolutely certain they had seen glimpses 

 of a maned lion. At last we decided to give up the 

 pursuit. We did not seem to get any nearer to the 

 growling beast, and the thicket did not grow less dense. 

 We fired, however, at random in the direction from 

 where the sounds came. We spent a great deal of- 

 ammunition, not knowing whether any of our shots 

 took effect. After a while the growling stopped, and 

 we ceased firing. Had the animal escaped out of hear- 

 ing or was it killed by a chance shot ? Agam we pro- 

 ceeded, with the help of our natives, who beat down 

 the reeds while Captain Merker and I followed. Ad- 

 vancing inch by inch, slowly but surely, we came to a 



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