ve dazed
the lion for a second or two, enabling Whitehead to disengage himself;
but the next instant the brute pounced like lightning on the
unfortunate Abdullah, with whom he at once made off. All that the poor
fellow could say was: "Eh, Bwana, simba" ("Oh, Master, a lion"). As the
lion was dragging him over the bank, Whitehead fired again, but without
effect, and the brute quickly disappeared into the darkness with his
prey. It was of course, this unfortunate man whom I had heard the lions
devouring during the night. Whitehead himself had a marvellous escape;
his wounds were happily not very deep, and caused him little or no
inconvenience afterwards.

On the same day, December 3, the forces arrayed against the lions were
further strengthened. Mr. Farquhar, the Superintendent of Police,
arrived from the coast with a score of sepoys to assist in hunting down
the man-eaters, whose fame had by this time spread far and wide, and
the most elaborate precautions were taken, his men being posted on the
most convenient trees near every camp. Several other officials had also
come up on leave to join in the chase, and each of these guarded a
likely spot in the same way, Mr. Whitehead sharing my post inside the
crib on the girder. Further, in spite of some chaff, my lion trap was
put in thorough working order, and two of the sepoys were installed as
bait.

Our preparations were quite complete by nightfall, and we all took up
our appointed positions. Nothing happened until about nine o'clock,
when to my great satisfaction the intense stillness was suddenly broken
by the noise of the door of the trap clattering down. "At last," I
thought, "one at least of the brutes is done for." But the sequel was
an ignominious one.

The bait-sepoys had a lamp burning inside their part of the cage, and
were each armed with a Martini rifle, with plenty of ammunition. They
had also been given strict orders to shoot at once if a lion should
enter the trap. Instead of doing so, however, they were so terrified
when he rushed in and began to lash himself madly against the bars of
the cage, that they completely lost their heads and were actually too
unnerved to fire. Not for some minutes--not, indeed, until Mr.
Farquhar, whose post was close by, shouted at them and cheered them
on--did they at all recover themselves. Then when at last they did
begin to fire, they fired with a vengeance--anywhere, anyhow. Whitehead
and I were at right angles to the di