A Borgu Leopard 



out, so that it was somewhat odoriferous. Passing 

 through a very heavy patch of bush, I heard 

 something moving parallel to us and quite close 

 to our left. I glanced back, and Ajala was not 

 there ; I supposed he had dropped behind, and 

 coming up again had missed us, and was causing 

 the noise I heard, so I gave him a whistle. A 

 second after we emerged on an open swampy bit 

 about fifty yards across. I glanced to my left 

 for Ajala, but instead, out stepped what I took 

 to be a lion within twenty yards. The villager 

 looked round at the same time, gave a yell, dropped 

 the buck, and would have bolted, but that I 

 grabbed him by the hair of his head, knowing 

 that such procedure would infallibly provoke a 

 charge. The beast stood looking towards us, 

 snarling and lashing his tail; he was evidently 

 very hungry, and the smell of the blood of the 

 small buck urged him on, while the sight of us 

 holding our ground puzzled him. I avoided look- 

 ing full at him, believing that that would bring 

 him on. I never believed in the power of the 

 human eye with carnivora; one has no wish, 

 when placed as I then was, to irritate them, only 

 to deter them by behaving as no other animal 

 would do. Had we bolted, it would have been 

 what he was used to see animals do daily, and 

 in a few bounds he would probably have struck 

 us both down. 



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