as killed and eaten, and the other so badly mauled that he
died within few days. As I have said, however, we at Tsavo enjoyed
complete immunity from attack, and the coolies, believing that their
dreaded foes had permanently deserted the district, resumed all their
usual habits and occupations, and life in the camps returned to its
normal routine.

At last we were suddenly startled out of this feeling of security. One
dark night the familiar terror-stricken cries and screams awoke the
camps, and we knew that the "demons" had returned and had commenced a
new list of victims. On this occasion a number of men had been sleeping
outside their tents for the sake of coolness, thinking, of course, that
the lions had gone for good, when suddenly in the middle of the night
one of the brutes was discovered forcing its way through the boma. The
alarm was at once given, and sticks, stones and firebrands were hurled
in the direction of the intruder. All was of no avail, however, for the
lion burst into the midst of the terrified group, seized an unfortunate
wretch amid the cries and shrieks of his companions, and dragged him
off through the thick thorn fence. He was joined outside by the second
lion, and so daring had the two brutes become that they did not trouble
to carry their victim any further away, but devoured him within thirty
yards of the tent where he had been seized. Although several shots were
fired in their direction by the jemadar of the gang to which the coolie
belonged, they took no notice of these and did not attempt to move
until their horrible meal was finished. The few scattered fragments
that remained of the body I would not allow to be buried at once,
hoping that the lions would return to the spot the following night; and
on the chance of this I took up my station at nightfall in a convenient
tree. Nothing occurred to break the monotony of my watch, however,
except that I had a visit from a hyena, and the next morning I learned
that the lions had attacked another camp about two miles from
Tsavo--for by this time the camps were again scattered, as I had works
in progress all up and down the line. There the man-eaters had been
successful in obtaining a victim, whom, as in the previous instance,
they devoured quite close to the camp. How they forced their way
through the bomas without making a noise was, and still is, a mystery
to me; I should have thought that it was next to impossible for an
animal to get through