END OF THE TSAVO LIONS 
ness that had again fallen. . I sat like a statue and waited. Soon all doubt 
as to the presence of the lions was dispelled. A deep, long-drawn sigh (sure 
sign of hunger in a lion) came up from the bushes, and again the rustling 
commenced as they advanced. A sudden stop, followed by an angry growl, 
told that one of them had spied me, and I began to think disappointment 
awaited me once more. However, matters took another turn, and the 
lions began to stalk me. For about two hours they horrified me by slowly 
creeping round and round my machan, gradually drawing closer. I feared 
they would rush it, and if one of the rather flimsy poles broke, or if they 
could spring twelve feet — ugh! the thought was not a pleasant one. I 
began to feel distinctly creepy, and heartily cursed my folly for placing my- 
self in such a position. 
“T kept perfectly still, hardly daring even to blink my eyes. Down 
below I could but faintly make out the body of the donkey. Imagine what 
I felt like when, after a continued strain like this, something came flop and 
hit me on the back of the head. I was thoroughly terrified for a moment, 
and almost fell off the plank. I thought it was one of the lions that had 
sprung .at me from behind. A moment afterward I knew I had been 
struck by an owl, which, no doubt, had taken me for a branch of a tree — 
not a very alarming thing to happen, I admit, but, coming at the time it 
did, it almost paralyzed me. I was not kept long in suspense after this. 
One of the lions crept up to the donkey; I could just make out his form as 
he crouched among the whitish yellow undergrowth; still, I saw enough. 
I took careful aim as near as I could in the direction of his heart, and as 
he wrenched off his first mouthful I fired. A bound and a roar told me he 
was hit. His bound had taken him out of sight, but he was evidently 
badly wounded, as he did not go far, and I emptied my magazine in the direc- 
tion from which his dying roars came. In a few moments his last groan 
had rattled in his throat, and I knew that one of the ‘devils’ was dead.” 
It was not until some weeks later, however, that the second man-eater 
succumbed, after giving Mr. Patterson an even more thrilling experience, 
and work could be safely resumed. It would be difficult to find a more 
exciting episode in all the romantic history of railway building. 
The lion, like the other great cats, is a relic of a diminishing 
race and dominion. In the early Stone Age the “cave” lion 
roamed throughout the southern half of Europe; and it is 
believed that along the Mediterranean, at least, its extinction 
was due to prehistoric man. The battle has gone on ever 
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