It Occurred To Me, However, That A Hard-Nosed
Bullet From My .303 Would Penetrate The
Iron, And On Making The Experiment I Was Glad
To Find That A Hole Was Made As Cleanly As If It
Had Been Punched Out.
When the trap was ready I pitched a tent over
it in order further to deceive the lions, and built
an exceedingly strong boma round it.
One
small entrance was made at the back of the
enclosure for the men, which they were to close
on going in by pulling a bush after them; and
another entrance just in front of the door of the
cage was left open for the lions. The wiseacres
to whom I showed my invention were generally
of the opinion that the man-eaters would be too
cunning to walk into my parlour; but, as will be
seen later, their predictions proved false. For
the first few nights I baited the trap myself, but
nothing happened except that I had a very sleepless
and uncomfortable time, and was badly bitten
by mosquitoes.
As a matter of fact, it was some months
before the lions attacked us again, though from
time to time we heard of their depredations
in other quarters. Not long after our night in
the goods-wagon, two men were carried off
from railhead, while another was taken from a
place called Engomani, about ten miles away.
Within a very short time, this latter place was
again visited by the brutes, two more men being
seized, one of whom was killed and eaten, and
the other so badly mauled that he died within
few days.
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