VIII 
THE LEOPARD 
285 
the approach of the wild animal, but the noiseless 
tread of the leopard, as usual, was unheard, even in 
the extreme stillness of a calm night. The sudden 
attack of a leopard is generally so unexpected that 
a dog has no time for self-defence, and being 
invariably seized by the neck, it is at once rendered 
helpless, and cannot utter a warning shriek before it 
is carried off. I was walking with a very powerful 
bull terrier at Newera Ellia in Ceylon, when the 
dog, who was running through the jungle within a 
few yards of me, suddenly disappeared without a 
cry, and was never heard of again ; this same dog 
would have made a good defence had it confronted 
the leopard face to face. 
On another occasion a dog named Matchless, a 
cross between foxhound and pointer, was seized by 
a leopard in open day when, together with a pack 
of hounds, walking through a jungle-path at Dim- 
bola, not far from Newera Ellia. The leopard 
sprang suddenly from a tree, and, seizing the dog, 
immediately ascended, and took refuge among the 
boughs with the hound suspended in its mouth. The 
entire pack bayed the audacious enemy; it then 
dropped the dog and jumped from tree to tree, 
followed beneath by the excited hounds. At length 
the leopard reached a large tree, which was suffi¬ 
ciently isolated to prevent it from springing to 
any adjoining branches. In this position it was 
surrounded, and became the central object, where 
it remained snarling at the infuriated pack. The 
party of hunters now commenced a bombardment 
