IMPRISONED WITH A LEOPARD.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 38, 13 August 1910, Page 10

IMPRISONED WITH A LEOPARD.

« STRUGGLE FOR LIFE IN A DINING-ROOM. The story of a young British East African farmer's terrifying encounter with a leopard in a dining-room is published in the East African Standard. The farmer -had been dining with a friend near Nyeri, and as they sat chatting by the fire his dog began barking. "A leopard had been paying attention to the pigs a few nights before," ho relates, "and I suggested that tho beast was at hand again. While we were discussing this a monster leopard canto into the room wifch such a bang that it Was nearly against us before it could pull up. THE ANIMAL SHUTS THE DOOR. i "Wo started shouting for fear it j would collar the dog, but it was too ! surprised at the sight of us and at the light from the lamp to meddle with the dog. The leopard then turned towards the doorway, but missed it and got behind the door. Anxious to get out, it reared itself against the wall and pawed round about to the side of the room. W^o Had no weapons handy, but we still kept shouting nt it, thinking it good fun to scare the beast, and that it would soon gam the doorway. "As it moved about, however, it came against the door and shut it. Then the tune was changed. Wo saw we were in a tight place, and looked round for something to defend ourselves with. We now had our chairs up as shields. I was nearest to the door, and began to move slowly thereto whenever the leopard's back was turned to me. FIGHT WITH FISTS. "It noticed what I was after, however, and was on me like a shot, with a roar or growl, paws out, and moutli wide open. "I guarded with the chair, but it knocked that out of my hands, and getting one paw home on my scalp, clawed it and' ripped it like a piece of cloth. I kept, my feet, however, though it must have knocked mo violently against the wall, for my shoulder was sore for weeks after. "I hammered on the beast's head with my fists, but don't suppose with much effect, though it probably prevented it from using teeth and claws on my legs or body, as it kept snapping at and trying to catch my hands as I hit it, while all the time* the dog was tearing at its ears. The dog must have gripped one of the leopard's hind legs, which mad© the animal turn from me. The young man took the opportunity to open the door, although almost blinded by blood. In the meantime the leopard was making for his friend, Mr. D., who had been burning his hands badly in trying to take a brand from the fire- as a weapon. THE LEOPARD'S EXIT. "The next I saw," the narrator- pursues, "was Mr. D. on the bed and the leopard gathering itself /or a spring upon him. But D. was in timo to lift a blanket over himself and so foil the charge. I stood holding the door open with one hand, with the other diverting the blood from my eyes. "The leopard now leaped back to the floor. Turning a little towards the dog, which kept pestering it, it felt the cold air blowing in from the open door. Turning further ft saw outside and trotted out. I had not even the chance of giving it a parting kick as ifr brushed past me, because the dog was hanging on to its hindquarters. j After getting out it must have turned on I the dog ; at any rate, the latter came back in a mighty hurry." The next day the young farmer was taken on a stretcher to the Objeri Hospital, where he was treated for his wounds.