Though, rudely awakened, the
Greek was quite unhurt and suffered from nothing
worse than a bad fright. This same man, however,
met with a melancholy fate not long afterwards.
He had been to the Kilima N'jaro district to buy
cattle, and on the return journey attempted to
take a short cut across country to the railway,
but perished miserably of thirst on the way.
On another occasion fourteen coolies who slept
together in a large tent were one night awakened
by a lion suddenly jumping on to the tent and
breaking through it. The brute landed with one
claw on a coolie's shoulder, which was badly
torn; but instead of seizing the man himself, in
his hurry he grabbed a large bag of rice which
happened to be lying in the tent, and made off
with it, dropping it in disgust some little distance
away when he realised his mistake.
These, however, were only the earlier efforts
of the man-eaters. Later on, as will be seen,
nothing flurried or frightened them in the least,
and except as food they showed a complete
contempt for human beings. Having once marked
down a victim, they would allow nothing to deter
them from securing him, whether he were protected
by a thick fence, or inside a closed tent, or sitting
round a brightly burning fire.
Pages:
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53