One night we had a peculiar experience with a lion. With such a number of porters it was impossible to provide tents for all the men, so we used to bivouac at nights either on the edge of the forest or in some deep ravine where we were sheltered from the wind. On the particular evening of which I am writing we were settled for the night in a ravine, and I was suddenly aroused from my sleep by shouting, howling, and the waving of firebrands, while at the same moment a huge boulder came crashing through my tent. Thinking that it was at least an attack by the Kalyera or Masai or some of the other natives, I rushed out of my tent to find that what had really happened was that a lion had come prowling round the camp, and was in the act of springing on some man sleeping below when he dislodged a boulder from the overhanging ledge on which he was crouching for the spring, which had dropped on my tent. The noise made by the porters and the stone slipping from under its feet must have scared the animal, as he made off just as I came out. There were quite a number of lions on the Kinangop Plain and near Naivasha, so we always made big fires at night to guard the camp, and never had the bad luck to have any one taken. One day a Masai reported that a lion had been into the kraal and had killed thirty sheep, every one of which had been killed by a tap of his paw, but none of them had been eaten.
I was told of a remarkable occurrence which had taken place at Naivasha. One of the officials there had a white horse, and one night a prowling lion sprang on its back. Hearing the noise, one of the soldiers fired, and, although it was too dark to take an accurate aim, he was fortunate enough to hit the lion, which dropped off the horse’s back dead, while the horse was none the worse, save for a few scratches from the lion’s claws. Of course, it was purely a chance shot, as it was much too dark for the man to see clearly, and that was probably how he came to kill the lion—niggers being, as a rule, atrocious shots with a rifle.
When going into Naivasha, the country around there being considered practically safe, I often used to gallop on ahead of the caravan on my mule, taking only a couple of boys with me, to let them know that the safari was coming and to make arrangements for it on arrival. On one of these occasions, when crossing the Kinangop Plain, I had a rather lively experience with a leopard. After being cooped up in the hills for so long it was a pleasure to get a good gallop over the open plain, and I was riding along, thoroughly enjoying the exercise, when, chancing to look round to see how far my gun-bearer was behind, I saw a leopard following me at a distance of about thirty yards. I at once pulled up, when the leopard immediately followed my example, and, after looking at one another for a minute or two, the animal began walking slowly up and down, swishing its tail about, and looking for all the world like a big cat, but it did not offer to approach any nearer. This went on for some time, until I at last saw the boy come into sight, carrying my gun; but directly he saw the leopard, which was between us, he was afraid to come any farther, and though I waved my hand to him to make his way round to me, he would not move. The leopard still continued to march up and down, until presently it saw the boy and appeared to hesitate, as if wondering which of us to attack, though my mule had evidently been the first attraction. The animal seemed to be puzzled at seeing me on its back, and apparently did not quite know what to make of it. Seeing that the boy was too scared to come to me, I made a detour—the leopard still following me at about the same distance—and as soon as I reached the boy I dismounted quickly, and, taking my gun from him, fired at the animal, and evidently hit him, for he gave a bound and cleared off. Whilst he was making off as fast as he could go I managed to get two more shots in, and followed him until he disappeared into some bushes. Knowing that one does not stand a chance with a wounded leopard in a bush, I hesitated to follow, but I did not like to leave it; so I tried, by throwing stones and in other ways, to find out whether it was still alive and likely to be dangerous or whether I had actually finished it. Hearing no movement, I plucked up courage, after some manœuvring, to go into the bush. Moving as stealthily as I could, not knowing whether the animal might not spring out on me at any moment, I worked my way cautiously in, but I had not gone many yards before I found it lying stone dead.