... eight days later I took up my post with the railway which I had taken from Mombassa to Nairobi three months earlier. Gradually
I discovered that as a railway guard I had the most marvellous opportunities to shoot. Often we could see a lion standing on its prey right by the track
and in the early morning or evening we went passed leopards almost regularly. I had my old Mauser rifle with me, it was stored in our provisions chest.
And as we passed a worthwhile animal I would lean out of the train window and shoot it. Then I pulled the emergency break, the train stopped and I jumped
out with my native boy to skin it. Travellers at that time were not so pressed for time and the railway personnel joined in. The driver in particular
was a nice fellow. Since he could see the tracks in front he would give me a signal with the steam whistle whenever there was a worthwhile animal. Three
blasts meant a leopard, two, a lion. If it was just a case on taking a passenger on board, he only gave one blast.
J. A. Hunter |
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