A STARVING LEOPARD 



action. In the water was a dead hippo, or, rather, 

 the putrid remains of one. All round it were crocodiles, 

 and the leopard was trying to drive them off whilst 

 he got his share. 



It was a wonderful chance for me. I secured some 

 fifty feet of film of it without the least difficulty. Then 

 Clark came up, and I pointed out the leopard to him. 

 I shall never forget the look of astonishment on his 

 face. At first he could only stare. As he said later, 

 he had spent nine months up there in quest of wild 

 animals, and during that time had never seen a leopard 

 come out into the open. The animal went on with his 

 fishing — I suppose he was starving, and hunger had 

 made him careless of danger — and, acting on Clark's 

 advice, I continued to turn the handle until I had 

 used up all the film I had in the machine. Even then 

 we remained watching him for some time longer. 



Needless to say, I was excited about my pictures, 

 and as soon as I got into camp I started to develop 

 them. To my horror, however, the test pieces simply 

 fogged off in patches, with little bits of the leopard 

 visible here and there. I had had the chance of a 

 lifetime, of ten lifetimes, perhaps, yet the whole film 

 was valueless. It was terribly hard luck. 



I think I spent nine days in all in my hiding-place 

 on the river bank without exposing an inch of film on 

 the hippo ; then there was a change in the wind, and 

 I went down to find all the animals in view, and I had 



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