76 * ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER ch. 
up their rifles, went outside the hut and listened 
intently for any noise that might confirm their 
comrade’s surmise. A low moan broke the stillness 
of the night, and discovering that the sound issued 
from a hut some fifty yards away, in which a woman 
and her child were sleeping, they crept closer and 
distinctly heard the sound of bones being crunched 
inside. Convinced that a lion had broken into the 
hut and was making a meal of the woman, whom he 
had killed, they promptly emptied their rifles into 
the dwelling, trusting that a lucky bullet might find 
its billet in the animal. For a space, they waited to 
see if the man-eater would come forth, but as he 
made no appearance and silence reigned in the hut, 
they came to the conclusion that he had either been 
killed or was crouching expectant, ready to spring 
on the first man who dared venture too close. 
Deciding to take no risks, they fashioned torches of 
dry grass and, setting them alight, flung them from 
a distance on to the roof of the hut, the dry in¬ 
flammable thatch of which was soon ablaze. Ere 
the conflagration had died down, the dawn had 
broken in the east and with the light of day they 
learned the truth. Going over to the still glowing 
embers—all that was left of the hut—they dis¬ 
covered the charred remains of a lion, a woman, 
and a child. Only one bullet had struck the lion, 
but that one had gone right through his heart 
