lions, but they were not to be frightened and calmly lay
there until their meal was finished. After examining the spot in the
morning, we at once set out to follow the brutes, Mr. Dalgairns feeling
confident that he had wounded one of them, as there was a trail on the
sand like that of the toes of a broken limb. After some careful
stalking, we suddenly found ourselves in the vicinity of the lions, and
were greeted with ominous growlings. Cautiously advancing and pushing
the bushes aside, we saw in the gloom what we at first took to be a
lion cub; closer inspection, however, showed it to be the remains of
the unfortunate coolie, which the man-eaters had evidently abandoned at
our approach. The legs, one arm and half the body had been eaten, and
it was the stiff fingers of the other arm trailing along the sand which
had left the marks we had taken to be the trail of a wounded lion. By
this time the beasts had retired far into the thick jungle where it was
impossible to follow them, so we had the remains of the coolie buried
and once more returned home disappointed.

Now the bravest men in the world, much less the ordinary Indian coolie,
will not stand constant terrors of this sort indefinitely. The whole
district was by this time thoroughly panic-stricken, and I was not at
all surprised, therefore, to find on my return to camp that same
afternoon (December 1) that the men had all struck work and were
waiting to speak to me. When I sent for them, they flocked to my boma
in a body and stated that they would not remain at Tsavo any longer for
anything or anybody; they had come from India on an agreement to work
for the Government, not to supply food for either lions or "devils." No
sooner had they delivered this ultimatum than a regular stampede took
place. Some hundreds of them stopped the first passing train by
throwing themselves on the rails in front of the engine, and then,
swarming on to the trucks and throwing in their possessions anyhow,
they fled from the accursed spot.

After this the railway works were completely stopped; and for the next
three weeks practically nothing was done but build "lion-proof" huts
for those workmen who had had sufficient courage to remain. It was a
strange and amusing sight to see these shelters perched on the top of
water-tanks, roofs and girders--anywhere for safety--while some even
went so far as to dig pits inside their tents, into which they
descended at night, covering the top over