288 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 
prodigious bit of climbing. Cecily said she was 
confident her bullet told ; I know mine didn’t. We 
reached the spot where the animal was ensconced, and 
there, sure enough, we could see, if we stooped, his 
crouched shoulders, head dropped on paws, eyes 
gleaming defiance. He was a foe to be afraid of, and 
I was afraid for consequences. The men were in 
such dangerous positions, and all of us had such in- 
secure foothold. In case of a charge from the leopard 
one or more would certainly go over the rocks to the 
bottom of the gorge, a very nasty fall indeed. I made 
up my mind I would finish it. I walked as carefully 
as I could towards my enemy, rifle ready, expecting 
the very worst every minute. I drew a bead on its 
head. Fired ! A moment of such intense anxiety. 
No movement. We advanced cautiously. The great 
cat was dead. A passive ending indeed. 
By all the laws of first blood he belonged to Cecily. 
She had got him very much indeed, in the base of the 
spine. He was done for when I shot him, and it is 
questionable if he had the power to move at all. 
Indeed, his ascent of the place, wounded where he was, 
seemed to us a wonderful feat. The men extricated 
the beautiful thing ; he was somewhat aged, with old 
teeth, and skin much scarred and seamed with fighting. 
The head-man from the karia was very much delighted, 
for he insisted the leopard was one for whom they had 
long looked to make an end of. He had struck down 
a Somali, who was only saved by the spears of his 
friends. The yellow danger lurked in rocks, and would, 
from all accounts, probably have developed into a 
