60 
LION-HUNTING 
[CH. Ill 
Major was determined to get his assailant, which he felt 
sure would soon return. Accordingly, he went back to 
his bed, drew his cocked rifle beside him, pointing 
toward his feet, and feigned sleep. When all was still 
once more, a dim form loomed up through the un¬ 
certain light, toward the foot of the bed; it was the 
ravenous beast returning for his prey, and the Major 
shot and killed it where it stood. 
A few months ago a hyena entered the outskirts of 
Nairobi, crept into a hut, and seized and killed a native 
man. At Nairobi the wild creatures are always at the 
threshold of the town, and often cross it. At Governor 
Jackson’s table, at Government House, I met Mr. and 
Mrs. Sandiford. Mr. Sandiford is managing the rail¬ 
road. A few months previously, while he was sitting 
with his family in his own house in Nairobi, he happened 
to ask his daughter to look for something in one of the 
bedrooms. She returned in a minute, quietly remark¬ 
ing : 46 Father, there’s a leopard under the bed.” So 
there was; and it was then remembered that the house- 
cat had been showing a marked and alert distrust of 
the room in question—very probably the leopard had 
got into the house while trying to catch her or one of 
the dogs. A neighbour with a rifle was summoned, and 
shot the leopard. 
Hyenas not infrequently kill mules and donkeys, 
tearing open their bellies, and eating them while they 
are still alive. Yet when themselves assailed they 
usually behave with abject cowardice. The Hills had 
a large Airedale terrier, an energetic dog of much 
courage. Not long before our visit this dog put up 
a hyena from a bushy ravine in broad daylight, ran 
after it, overtook it, and flew at it. The hyena made 
no effective fight, although the dog—not a third its 
