Ben Jonson - "Volpone; Or, The Fox"

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The Man Eaters of Tsavo and Other East African Adventures

J >> J.H. Patterson >> The Man Eaters of Tsavo and Other East African Adventures




I made it my custom to take a walk each
morning for some distance ahead of rails along
the centre-line of the railway, in order to spy out
the land and to form a rough estimate of the
material that would be required in the way of
sleepers, girders for temporary bridges, etc. It
was necessary to do this in order to avoid undue
delay taking place owing to shortage of material
of any kind. About ten days after my arrival at
Machakos Road I walked in this way for five or
six miles ahead of the last-laid rail. It was
rather unusual for me to go so far, and, as it
happened, I was alone on this occasion, Mahina
having been left behind in camp. About two
miles away on my left, I noticed a dark-looking
object and thinking it was an ostrich I started off
towards it. Very soon, however, I found that it
was bigger game than an ostrich, and on getting
still nearer made out the form of a great rhinoceros
lying down. I continued to advance very
cautiously, wriggling through the short grass until
at length I got within fifty yards of where the
huge beast was resting. Here I lay and watched
him; but after some little time he evidently
suspected my presence, for rising to his feet, he
looked straight in my direction and then
proceeded to walk round me in a half-circle. The
moment he got wind of me, he whipped round
in his tracks like a cat and came for me in a
bee-line. Hoping to turn him, I fired instantly;
but unfortunately my soft-nosed bullets merely
annoyed him further, and had not the slightest
effect on his thick hide. On seeing this, I flung
myself down quite flat on the grass and threw
my helmet some ten feet away in the hope that
he would perceive it and vent his rage on it
instead of me. On he thundered, while I scarcely
dared to breathe. I could hear him snorting and
rooting up the grass quite close to me, but luckily
for me he did not catch sight of me and charged
by a few yards to my left.

As soon as he had passed me, my courage
began to revive again, and I could not resist the
temptation of sending a couple of bullets after
him. These, however, simply cracked against
his hide and splintered to pieces on it, sending
the dry mud off in little clouds of dust. Their
only real effect, indeed, was to make him still
more angry. He stood stock-still for a moment,
and then gored the ground most viciously and
started off once more on the semi-circle round
me. This proceeding terrified me more than
ever, as I felt sure that he would come up-wind
at me again, and I could scarcely hope to escape
a second time. Unfortunately, my surmise
proved correct, for directly he scented me, up
went his nose in the air and down he charged
like a battering-ram. I fairly pressed myself into
the ground, as flat as ever I could, and luckily the
grass was a few inches high. I felt the thud of
his great feet pounding along, yet dared not move
or look up lest he should see me. My heart was
thumping like a steam hammer, and every moment
I fully expected to find myself tossed into the
air. Nearer and nearer came the heavy thudding
and I had quite given myself up for lost, when
from my lying position I caught sight, out of the
corner of my eye, of the infuriated beast rushing
by. He had missed me again! I never felt so
relieved in my life, and assuredly did not attempt
to annoy him further. He went off for good
this time, and it was with great satisfaction that
I watched him gradually disappear in the distance.
I could not have believed it possible that these
huge, ungainly-looking brutes could move so
rapidly, and turn and twist in their tracks just
like monkeys, had I not actually seen this one
do so before my eyes. If he had found me he
would certainly have pounded me to atoms, as he
was an old bull and in a most furious and vicious
mood.

One day when Dr. Brock and I were out
shooting, shortly after this incident and not far
from where it occurred, we caught sight of two
rhinos in a hollow some little distance from us,
and commenced to stalk them, taking advantage
of every fold of the ground in doing so and
keeping about fifty yards apart in case of a charge.
In that event one or other of us would be able to
get in a broadside shot, which would probably
roll the beast over. Proceeding carefully in this
manner, we managed to get within about sixty
yards of them, and as it was my turn for a shot, I
took aim at the larger of the two, just as it was
moving its great head from one side to the other,
wondering which of us it ought to attack. When
at last it decided upon Brock, it gave me the
chance I had been waiting for. I fired instantly
at the hollow between neck and shoulder; the
brute dropped at once, and save for one or two
convulsive kicks of its stumpy legs as it lay half
on its back, it never moved again. The second
rhino proved to be a well-grown youngster which
showed considerable fight as we attempted to
approach its fallen comrade. We did not want
to kill it, and accordingly spent about two hours
in shouting and throwing stones at it before at
last we succeeded in driving it away. We then
proceeded to skin our prize; this, as may be
imagined, proved rather a tough job, but we
managed it in the end, and the trophy was well
worth the pains I had taken to add it to my
collection.




CHAPTER XVIII

LIONS ON THE ATHI PLAINS



Shortly after I took charge at railhead we
entered the Kapiti Plain, which gradually merges
into the Athi Plain, and, indeed, is hardly to be
distinguished from the latter in the appearance or
general character of the country. Together they
form a great tract of rolling downs covered with
grass, and intersected here and there by dry
ravines, along the baked banks of which a few
stunted trees -- the only ones to be seen -- struggle
to keep themselves alive. In all this expanse
there is absolutely no water in the dry season,
except in the Athi River (some forty miles away)
and in a few water-holes known only to the wild
animals. The great feature of the undulating
plains, however, and the one which gives them
a never-failing interest, is the great abundance of
game of almost every conceivable kind. Here
I myself have seen lion, rhinoceros, leopard,
eland, giraffe, zebra, wildebeeste, hartebeeste,
waterbuck, wart-hog, Granti, Thomsoni, impala,
besides ostriches, greater and lesser bustard,
marabout, and a host of other animals and birds
too numerous to name; while along the Athi and
close to its banks may be found large numbers of
hippo and crocodiles. At the time I was there,
these great plains also formed the principal
grazing ground for the immense herds of cattle
owned by the Masai. I am very glad to say that
the whole of this country on the south side of
the railway as far as the boundary of German
East Africa, from the Tsavo River on the east
to the Kedong Valley on the west, is now a
strictly protected Game Reserve; and so long,
as this huge expanse is thus maintained as a
sanctuary, there can be no danger of any of
these species becoming extinct.

While crossing this dry expanse, the greatest
difficulty I had to contend with was the provision
of sufficient water for the three thousand
workmen employed about railhead, for not a drop
could be obtained on the way, nor could we
hope for any until we had got to the other side
of the plain and had reached the Athi River,
which could not be accomplished under a couple
of months. As we progressed onwards into the
waterless belt, this became a very serious matter
indeed, as any breakdown in the supply would
have had the most disastrous consequences among
so large a body of men working all day under
the blazing sun of a tropical climate. Every
day two trainloads of water in great tanks were
brought up from the last stream we had passed,
which, of course, daily fell further to the rear.
This was a source of considerable delay, for the
line was blocked all the time the water was being
pumped into the tanks, and consequently no
material for construction could come through;
and a good deal of time was also wasted, when
the trains returned to railhead, in distributing
the water to the workmen, who often quarrelled
and fought in their eagerness to get at it. At
first I had most of the tank-filling done by night,
but on one occasion a lion came unpleasantly
close to the men working the pump, and so
night work had to be abandoned. The coolies
themselves were so anxious, indeed, to get a
plentiful supply of water, that once or twice some
of the more daring spirits among them ventured
to go out on to the plains in search of waterholes,
which, by reason of the large herds of game,
we knew must exist somewhere. The only result
of these expeditions, however, was that three of
these men never returned; what befell them is
not known to this day.

When we had proceeded some distance across
this dry land, and when I was experiencing to
the full the disadvantage and delay caused by
my tank trains, a native from some remote
corner of the plains -- with nothing by way of
dress but a small piece of cowhide thrown
over his left shoulder -- came to my tent door
one day and squatted down on his heels in the
native fashion. On being asked his business, "I
have heard," he replied, "that the Great Master
wants water; I can show it to him." This was
good news, if it could be relied upon; so I
questioned him closely, and ascertained that some
time previously -- exactly how long ago I could
not gather -- he had been in the locality on a
raiding expedition and had succeeded in finding
water. I asked if the place was far away, and
got the reply in Swahili "M'bali kidogo" (" A
little distance "). Now, I had had experience of
M'bali kidogo before; it is like the Irishman's
"mile and a bit." So I decided to start very
early next morning on a search for this pond --
for such my informant described it to be. In
the meantime the poor fellow, who appeared
starving -- there was a sore famine among the
natives of the district at the time -- was given
food and drink, and made a ravenous meal. In
the evening I had a long talk with him in
broken Swahili round the camp fire, and obtained
some insight into many of the strange and
barbarous customs of the Masai, to which
interesting tribe he belonged.

In the morning I started off betimes, taking
my .303 rifle and being accompanied by Mahina
with the 12-bore shot-gun, and by another Indian
carrying the necessary food and water. Our
Masai guide, whose name we found to be Lungow,
seemed to be quite certain of his way, and led us
across the rolling plains more or less in the
direction in which the railway was to run, but
some miles to the right of its centre-line. The
march was full of interest, for on the way we
passed within easy range of herds of wildebeeste,
hartebeeste, gazelle, and zebra. I was out strictly
on business, however, and did not attempt a
shot, reserving that pleasure for the homeward
trip. Late in the forenoon we arrived at Lungow's
pond -- a circular dip about eighty yards in
diameter, which without doubt had contained
water very recently, but which, as I expected
to find, was now quite dry. A considerable
number of bones lay scattered round it, whether
of "kills" or of animals which had died of thirst
I could not say. Our guide appeared very much
upset when he found the pond empty, and gave
vent to many exclamations in his peculiar
language, in which the letter "r" rolled like a
kettledrum.

Our search for water having thus proved a
failure, I determined to try my luck with the
game. The Masai and the Indian were sent
back to camp, while Mahina and I made a
big detour from the dried-up water-hole. Game
abounded in all directions, but the animals were
much more shy than they had been in the
morning, and it was in vain that I stalked -- if
it can be called "stalking," when as a matter of
fact one has to move in the open -- splendid
specimens of Thomson's and Grant's gazelle.
I might have attempted a shot once or twice,
but the probability was that owing to the long
range it would have resulted only in a wound,
and I think there is nothing so painful as to see
an animal limping about in a crippled condition.
In this fruitless manner we covered several miles,
and I was beginning to think that we should have
to return to camp without so much as firing a
shot. Just then, however, I saw a herd of
wildebeeste, and with much care managed to get
within three hundred yards of them. I singled
out the biggest head and waiting for a favourable
moment, fired at him, dropping him at once. I
ran up to the fallen beast, which appeared to be
dying, and told Mahina to drive the hunting knife
right through his heart so as to put him quickly
out of all pain. As Mahina was not doing this
as skilfully or as quickly as I thought it might be
done, and seemed unable to pierce the tough hide,
I handed him my rifle and took the knife in
order to do it myself. Just as I raised the knife
to strike, I was startled by the wildebeeste
suddenly jumping to his feet. For a moment
he stood looking at me in a dazed and tottery
kind of way, and then to my amazement he
turned and made off. At first he moved with
such a shaky and uncertain gait that I felt
confident that he could only go a few yards
before dropping; so, as I did not wish to disturb
the other game around us by firing a second
shot, I thought it best just to wait. To my
utter astonishment, however, after he had
staggered for about sixty yards he seemed to
revive suddenly, broke into his ordinary gallop
and quickly rejoined the herd. From that time
I lost all trace of him, though I followed up
for four or five miles.

The wildebeeste, in fact, is like Kipling's
Fuzzy-Wuzzy -- "'e's generally shammin' when
'e's dead"; and my friend Rawson about this
time had an experience very similar to mine,
but attended with more serious results. He had
knocked his wildebeeste over in much the same
way, and thought it was dead; and as he was
very keen on obtaining photographs of game,
he took his stand-camera from the Indian who
carried it and proceeded to focus it on the animal's
head. When he was just about to take the
picture, he was thunderstruck to see the
wildebeeste jump up and come charging down upon him.
He sprang quickly aside, and in an instant up
went the camera into the air, followed the next
moment by the unfortunate Indian, the wildebeeste
having stuck its horn right through the man's
thigh and tossed him over its back. Fortunately
the brute fell dead after this final effort, leaving
Rawson grateful for his escape.

After abandoning the chase of my wildebeeste,
we had not gone far on our way towards the
home camp when I thought I observed something
of a reddish colour moving in a patch of long
grass, a good distance to our left front. I asked
Mahina if he could make out what it was, but
he was unable to do so, and before I could get
my field-glasses to bear, the animal, whatever it
was, had disappeared into the grass. I kept my
eye on the spot, however, and we gradually
approached it. When we were about a hundred
yards off, the reddish object again appeared;
and I saw that it was nothing less than the shaggy
head of a lion peeping over the long grass.
This time Mahina also saw what it was, and called
out, "Dekko, Sahib, sher!" ("Look, Master, a
lion!"). I whispered to him to be quiet and to
take no notice of him, while I tried my best to
follow my own advice. So we kept on, edging up
towards the beast, but apparently oblivious of his
presence, as he lay there grimly watching us.
As we drew nearer, I asked Mahina in a whisper
if he felt equal to facing a charge from the
sher if I should wound him. He answered
simply that where I went, there would he go
also; and right well he kept his word.

I watched the lion carefully out of the corner
of my eye as we closed in. Every now and
then he would disappear from view for a moment;
and it was a fascinating sight to see how he
slowly raised his massive head above the top of
the grass again and gazed calmly and steadily
at us as we neared him. Unfortunately I could
not distinguish the outline of his body, hidden
as it was in the grassy thicket. I therefore
circled cautiously round in order to see if the
cover was sufficiently thin at the back to make
a shoulder shot possible; but as we moved, the
lion also twisted round and so always kept his
head full on us. When I had described a
half-circle, I found that the grass was no thinner
and that my chances of a shot had not improved.
We were now within seventy yards of the
lion, who appeared to take the greater interest
in us the closer we approached. He had lost
the sleepy look with which he had at first
regarded us, and was now fully on the alert;
but still he did not give me the impression
that he meant to charge, and no doubt if we
had not provoked him, he would have allowed
us to depart in peace. I, however, was bent on
war, in spite of the risk which one must always
run by attacking a lion at such close quarters
on an open plain as flat as the palm of the hand;
so in a standing position I took careful aim at
his head, and fired. The distance was, as I
have said, a bare seventy yards; yet I must
confess to a disgraceful miss. More astonishing
still, the beast made not the slightest movement
-- did not even blink an eye, so far as I could
see -- but continued his steadfast, questioning gaze.
Again I took aim, this time for a spot below the
tip of his nose, and again I fired -- with more
success, the lion turning a complete somersault
over his tail. I thought he was done for,
but he instantly sprang to his feet again, and
to my horror and astonishment was joined by
a lioness whose presence we had never even
thought of or suspected.

Worse was still to follow, for to our dismay
both made a most determined charge on us,
bounding along at a great pace and roaring angrily
as they came. Poor Mahina cried out, "Sahib,
do sher ata hai!" ("Master, two lions are
coming!"), but I told him to stand stock-still
and for his life not to make the slightest
movement. In the twinkling of an eye the two
beasts had covered about forty yards of the
distance towards us. As they did not show the
least sign of stopping, I thought we had given the
experiment of remaining absolutely motionless a
fair trial, and was just about to raise the rifle to
my shoulder as a last resort, when suddenly the
wounded lion stopped, staggered, and fell to the
ground. The lioness took a couple of bounds
nearer to us, and then to my unmeasured relief
turned to look round for her mate, who had by
this time managed to get to his feet again. There
they both stood, growling viciously and lashing
their tails, for what appeared to me to be a
succession of ages. The lioness then made up
her mind to go back to the lion, and they both
stood broadside on, with their heads close together
and turned towards us, snarling in a most
aggressive manner. Had either of us moved hand or foot
just then, it would, I am convinced, have at once
brought on another and probably a fatal charge.

As the two great brutes stood in this position
looking at us, I had, of course, a grand opportunity
of dropping both, but I confess I did not feel
equal to it at the moment. I could only devoutly
hope that they would not renew their attack,
and was only too thankful to let them depart
in peace if they would, without any further
hostility on my part. Just at this juncture
the lion seemed to grow suddenly very weak.
He staggered some ten yards back towards his
lair, and then fell to the ground; the lioness
followed, and lay down beside him -- both still
watching us, and growling savagely. After a few
seconds the lion struggled to his feet again and
retreated a little further, the lioness accompanying
him until he fell once more. A third time the
same thing took place, and at last I began to
breathe more freely, as they had now reached
the thicket from which they had originally
emerged. Accordingly I took a shot at the
lioness as she lay beside her mate, partly concealed
in the long grass. I do not think I hit her, but
anyhow she at once made off and bounded away
at a great rate on emerging into the open.

I sent a few bullets after her to speed her on
her way, and then cautiously approached the
wounded lion. He was stretched out at full
length on his side, with his back towards me,
but I could see by the heaving of his flanks that
he was not yet dead, so I put a bullet through
his spine. He never moved after this; but for
safety's sake, I made no attempt to go up to him
for a few minutes, and then only after Mahina had
planted a few stones on his body just to make
sure that he was really dead.

We both felt very pleased with ourselves as
we stood over him and looked at his fine head,
great paws, and long, clean, sharp tusks. He
was a young, but full-grown lion in fine condition,
and measured nine feet eight and a half inches
from tip of nose to tip of tail. My last shot had
entered the spine close to the shoulder, and had
lodged in the body; the first shot was a miss;
as I have already said; but the second had
caught him on the forehead, right between the
eyes. The bullet, however, instead of traversing
the brain, had been turned downwards by the
frontal bone, through which it crashed, finally
lodging in the root of the tongue, the lead
showing on both sides. I cut out the tongue
and hung it up to dry, intending to keep it as
a trophy; but unfortunately a vulture swooped
down when my back was turned, and carried
it off.

From the time I knocked the lion over until
he first staggered and fell not more than a
minute could have elapsed -- quite long enough,
however, to have enabled him to cover the
distance and to have seized one or other of us.
Unquestionably we owed our lives to the fact
that we both remained absolutely motionless; and
I cannot speak too highly of Mahina for the
splendid way in which he stood the charge. Had
he acted as did another gun-boy I know of, the
affair might not have had so happy an ending.
This gun-boy went out with Captain G---- in
this very neighbourhood, and not long after our
adventure. G---- came across a lion just as
we did, and wounded it. It charged down on
them, but instead of remaining absolutely still,
the terrified gun-boy fled, with the result that the
lion came furiously on, and poor G---- met
with a terrible death.

While Mahina was scouring the neighbourhood
in search of some natives to carry the skin back
to camp, I took a good look round the place
and found the half-eaten body of a zebra,
which I noticed had been killed out in the open
and then dragged into the long grass. The tracks
told me, also, that all the work had been done
by the lion, and this set me thinking of the
lioness. I accordingly swept the plain with my
glasses in the direction in which she had bounded
off, and after some searching I discovered her
about a mile away, apparently lying down in
the midst of a herd of hartebeeste, who grazed
away without taking any notice of her. I felt
much inclined to follow her up, but I was afraid
that if I did so the vultures that were already
hovering around would settle on my lion and
spoil the skin, for the destruction of which these
ravenous birds are capable, even in the space of
only a few minutes, is almost beyond belief. I
accordingly returned to the dead beast and sat
down astride of him. I had read that a frontal
shot at a lion was a very risky one, and on
carefully examining the head it was easy to see the
reason; for owing to the sharp backward slope
of the forehead it is almost impossible for a
bullet fired in this manner to reach the brain. As
there were lots of lions about in this district and
as I wanted to bag some more, I set myself to
think out a plan whereby the risk of a frontal
shot might be got rid of. About a fortnight
afterwards I had an opportunity of putting
my scheme into practice, happily with most
excellent results; this, however, is another story,
which will be told later on.

I next commenced to skin my trophy and found
it a very tough job to perform by myself. He
proved to be a very fat beast, so I knew that
Mahina would make a few honest and well-earned
rupees out of him, for Indians will give
almost anything for lion fat, believing that it is
an infallible cure for rheumatism and various
other diseases. When at length the skinning
process was completed, I waited impatiently
for the return of Mahina, who had by this time
been gone much longer than I expected. It is
rather a nerve shattering thing -- I am speaking
for myself -- to remain absolutely alone for hours
on a vast open plain beside the carcase of a
dead lion, with vultures incessantly wheeling
about above one, and with nothing to be seen or
heard for miles around except wild animals. It
was a great relief, therefore, when after a long
wait I saw Mahina approaching with half-a-dozen
practically naked natives in his train. It turned
out that he had lost his way back to me, so that
it was lucky he found me at all. We lost no time
in getting back to camp, arriving there just at
sundown, when my first business was to rub
wood ashes into the skin and then stretch it on
a portable frame which I had made a few days
previously. The camp fire was a big one that
night, and the graphic and highly coloured
description which Mahina gave to the eager circle
of listeners of the way in which we slew the
lion would have made even "Bahram, that great
Hunter," anxious for his fame.

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