od workmen,
and had each saved a fair number of rupees, so I thought it quite
likely that some scoundrels from the gangs had murdered them for the
sake of their money. This suspicion, however, was very soon dispelled.
About three weeks after my arrival, I was roused one morning about
daybreak and told that one of my jemadars, a fine powerful Sikh named
Ungan Singh, had been seized in his tent during the night, and dragged
off and eaten.

Naturally I lost no time in making an examination of the place, and was
soon convinced that the man had indeed been carried off by a lion, as
its "pug" marks were plainly visible in the sand, while the furrows
made by the heels of the victim showed the direction in which he had
been dragged away. Moreover, the jemadar shared his tent with half a
dozen other workmen, and one of his bedfellows had actually witnessed
the occurrence. He graphically described how, at about midnight, the
lion suddenly put its head in at the open tent door and seized Ungan
Singh--who happened to be nearest the opening--by the throat. The
unfortunate fellow cried out "Choro" ("Let go"), and threw his arms up
round the lion's neck. The next moment he was gone, and his
panic-stricken companions lay helpless, forced to listen to the
terrible struggle which took place outside. Poor Ungan Singh must have
died hard; but what chance had he? As a coolie gravely remarked, "Was
he not fighting with a lion?"

On hearing this dreadful story I at once set out to try to track the
animal, and was accompanied by Captain Haslem, who happened to be
staying at Tsavo at the time, and who, poor fellow, himself met with a
tragic fate very shortly afterwards. We found it an easy matter to
follow the route taken by the lion, as he appeared to have stopped
several times before beginning his meal. Pools of blood marked these
halting-places, where he doubtless indulged in the man-eaters' habit of
licking the skin off so as to get at the fresh blood. (I have been led
to believe that this is their custom from the appearance of two
half-eaten bodies which I subsequently rescued: the skin was gone in
places, and the flesh looked dry, as if it had been sucked.) On
reaching the spot where the body had been devoured, a dreadful
spectacle presented itself. The ground all round was covered with blood
and morsels of flesh and bones, but the unfortunate jemadar's head had
been left intact, save for the holes made by the lion's tusks on
seizing h