This Culminated In A
Perfect Reign Of Terror In December, 1898, When
They Actually Succeeded In Bringing The Railway
Works To A Complete Standstill For About Three
Weeks.
At first they were not always successful in
their efforts to carry off a victim, but as time went
On they stopped at nothing and indeed braved any
danger in order to obtain their favourite food.
Their methods then became so uncanny, and their
man-stalking so well-timed and so certain of
success, that the workmen firmly believed that
they were not real animals at all, but devils in
lions' shape. Many a time the coolies solemnly
assured me that it was absolutely useless to
attempt to shoot them. They were quite
convinced that the angry spirits of two departed
native chiefs had taken this form in order to
protest against a railway being made through
their country, and by stopping its progress to
avenge the insult thus shown to them.
I had only been a few days at Tsavo when I
first heard that these brutes had been seen in the
neighbourhood. Shortly afterwards one or two
coolies mysteriously disappeared, and I was told
that they had been carried off by night from
their tents and devoured by lions. At the time
I did not credit this story, and was more inclined
to believe that the unfortunate men had been the
victims of foul play at the hands of some of their
comrades. They were, as it happened, very good
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.
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