THE NJEGO, OR LEOPARD
The njego, or leopard, is the most dreaded of all the night prowlers by
all the animals of the great forest.
One night a njego, looking at his beautiful spotted skin, his long tail
beating his flanks, exclaimed to himself: “Many creatures of the great
forest hate and fear me, for I love blood. I thrive and live chiefly on
kambis [antelopes] and ncheris [gazelles]. I have no friends. All think
I am not to be trusted.
“I am the biggest of the night prowlers. I have to be cunning in seeking
my prey. No large creature can walk in the forest and through the
underbrush with a lighter step than mine, and if I make a slight
rustling going through the thicket of the jungle, the beasts of the
forest think the wind is the cause of it.
“I can also see in the daytime, but the light makes me wink. I can
spring farther than any animal. This is one of the gifts I possess,
otherwise I could not get my living. How I love the flesh of the kambis
and of the ncheris!” As he thought of them his eyes glittered and shone
like fire, and he licked his chops.
“When animals see me close to them, my eyes often paralyze them, and
they cannot run away.” Then he grinned as njegos do, and added, “No
wonder that the animals of the forest dread the njego, for often he
makes a prodigious leap, falling in the midst of them when they are not
aware of his presence, and then he gloats over the victim he has
chosen.”
Suddenly the njego heard the trumpeting of a njokoo (elephant), and the
terrible and appalling roar of a ngina (gorilla), and he listened a
while, and said, “These creatures I do not attack.”
Soon after he met his mate near their lair, and they went inside, for
the day was coming, and they were soon asleep. The njegos have a
peculiar, silent way of communicating with each other by looks,
movements of the tail, and other signs only known to them. So in this
way after they had slept all day long and well into the next night the
big njego said to his mate as they were lying in their lair: “Dear, the
night is far advanced; it is time for us to go out in search of prey,
and the day animals will be in their heaviest sleep and will not hear or
scent us.”
It was then about midnight. After coming out of their lair, they
rejoiced when they saw that the night was so dark. They said to each
other, “How well we shall see to-night!” Then they looked at each other
with great affection, the big njego licking the skin of his mate to show
her how much he loved her.
They said good-by to each other, for njegos, like all night prowlers, as
already said, go in search of prey by themselves, and they wished each
other good luck. “I hope, dear,” said the big njego to his mate, “that
you will find a kambi [antelope] to-night.” “I hope so,” she replied,
“and I wish you the same.”
After this they parted, each going his own way, walking as noiselessly
as still air, their lithe bodies passing through the jungle with a
suppleness that was wonderful. The glow of their eyes was sometimes such
that they looked like two bright burning pieces of charcoal.
[Illustration: [Leopards]]
The big njego, as he walked along, would stop now and then to scent
better or to hear if some prey was moving in the forest. But in spite of
all his cunning, power of scent, and good sight, he had bad luck, and
did not get any prey. Toward four o’clock in the morning, the two njegos
thought it was about time to return home.
When the big njego came to his lair, his mate had not yet arrived, and
he waited for her outside. Soon after, he scented her, and then he paced
to and fro, his long tail beating his flanks, and his eyes glaring like
fire from excitement and pleasure at the prospect of her coming.
Soon she made her appearance, and he received her with great delight. He
looked at her and said: “I see by your hollow flanks, dear, that you
have had nothing to eat to-night.”
“You are right,” she replied, “my stomach is empty; I am starving.”
Then, looking at him, she said: “I see also by your flanks that you did
not kill anything to-night. You have had no flesh to eat, no blood to
drink.”
“You are right,” he replied. “I also am starving. Well, we have to work
hard for our living. It is not every day that we get prey.” They spoke
of the animals they had met that night. “I saw a herd of njokoos,” said
the big njego. “I thought it was wiser to let them alone. I might have
sprung upon one and made fast to his trunk and lain between his tusks,
but he would have run through the forest and dashed his head against the
trunk of a tree and killed me.
“A little after, I scented a kambi; but the creature scented me also,
and, though I followed her with all the cunning I possess, she succeeded
in crossing and swimming to the other side of a large stream. I had to
give up the pursuit, for unfortunately we njegos are afraid of crossing
rivers, as we do not swim.”
They entered their lair. Then they went to sleep; but they were
restless, for they were hungry. Every time they awoke, each said, “I
wish night would come.” It came at last. They awoke, gave several yawns,
and opened their mouths, showing their strong, sharp teeth. Their
terrible retractile claws like those of a cat moved as if ready to sink
deeply into the body of some animal. “If I catch a kambi to-night, what
a feast I shall have!” thought each njego at the same time; and at the
thought of blood both licked their chops with their prickly tongues.
[Illustration: [Leopard]]
They left their lair and parted, as was their custom both prowling in
the dark, gloomy, and silent forest, for all the birds were asleep as
well as the day animals.
Afar off there were two kambis together, when suddenly one said to the
other: “We are in danger. I scent a njego. Let us flee, for the wicked
creature is coming our way. Let us hasten. Yes, the scent is becoming
stronger and stronger every moment.” They fled in the opposite direction
from the scent, and after a long run came to a large river and swam
across. Then they felt safe, as the broad stream was between them and
the njego; for kambis know that the njegos never swim across a river.
After a while the njego scented the two kambis. He followed the scent
until he came to the place where they had lain down. Here it was quite
strong. He thought they were very near, and crouched on the ground, his
belly touching it. Never had he been more wary, though he was intensely
excited at the prospect of a good meal, and his eyes glistened as if
they were fires.
Slowly he advanced, but his sharp eyes saw no kambis. He followed the
scent, walking with great rapidity, and was gaining upon them very fast.
At last the scent grew very strong, and he made sure he was to have a
meal. Soon he came to a river where he saw their footprints on the bank.
He gave a fearful growl of disappointment and rage when he found the
water of the wide stream between him and his prey. He knew they were
beyond his reach. Then he walked along the banks of the river, trying to
find a place where two trees opposite each other had branches spreading
far over the river, so that after climbing he could make a prodigious
bound from one to the other, and thus span the chasm that separated him
from the two kambis.
As he was looking for such a place, he said to himself: “I will make the
greatest leap I ever made, for I must kill one of those kambis. I am so
hungry. I have had no food for three days. How hard I have to work for
my living!”
At last he saw two such trees, and grinned with joy. He rose on his hind
legs and imbedded his terrible claws in the bark, and ascended one of
the trees just like a cat. When he reached its longest transverse thick
branch, he walked over it, and looked across to the other side. But, to
his disappointment and dismay, he saw that the gap between the trees was
so great that he could not leap over the chasm.
He looked down with dread at the swift deep water of the stream under
him, and exclaimed: “I can never leap over this big gap, for if I try I
shall surely fall into the stream. I have a horror of falling into the
water. This has never happened to me in my life.” But before coming down
from the tree he uttered another growl of rage, when he saw that he
could not follow the kambis. His roar was so loud that he awoke the day
creatures that were asleep in the neighborhood, and they fled in every
direction.
The njego had travelled a very long way from his lair, pursuing the
kambis, and it was time for him to go back to meet his mate. As he
walked, he was very despondent and said: “Again another day without a
meal. But luck may come before I reach my lair. It often happens that at
the last moment I find prey.”
True enough, as he was going along he suddenly scented a kambi. His eyes
once more flashed fire. He hurried on. Nearer and nearer he came toward
his prey, who was nipping leaves, unaware that her life was in such
danger, for the night breeze was blowing from her direction in that of
the njego, so that she could not scent him.
At last the njego, as sly as a snake, came within sight of the kambi. At
that moment the kambi for the first time scented danger and fled in
terror, for it was the scent of the njego, her most dreaded enemy. The
njego, seeing his prey running away, made a tremendous bound. He missed,
and the kambi fled as fast as her legs could carry her; but he made
spring after spring, and each leap brought him nearer and nearer his
quarry. He gave growls of rage every time he missed his prey, fearing
that it would escape him.
[Illustration: [Leopard]]
The poor kambi was so terrified that she ran in a wild, erratic way, and
became paralyzed with fear. At last the njego, with a prodigious bound,
landed on her neck. His teeth were immediately imbedded in the flesh of
the panting creature, and his claws sank deep into her body. The
struggle was soon over. The njego made a great feast on the warm body of
his victim.
While eating, the njego was silent for fear of attracting other njegos
toward his prey. It was terrible to see his glaring, treacherous-looking
eyes while he was feasting. If another njego had come near, he would
have been attacked with great fierceness. After eating until he could
eat no more, he continued his way toward his lair, too surfeited to
attack another kambi, even if he had met one on his way.
His mate was waiting for him before their lair. After he arrived, she
looked at him, and said: “Dear, I see blood around your mouth and on
your paws. This is the blood of a kambi. Your flanks are also so swollen
that your stomach must be filled with flesh.”
“Yes,” he replied, “I have been lucky. I came upon a kambi; you are
right.”
“I have also been fortunate,” she said. “I had a ncheri for my meal,
but, as you know, a ncheri is small compared with a kambi. So I had only
a good meal and nothing to spare. But I am thankful for this, for I am
not hungry any more.”
The two njegos were soon fast asleep, and did not wake during the day.
After the njego had left the remains of the kambi, a pack of hyenas came
just in time, before the ants arrived to eat the rest, and they feasted
on what the leopard had left of the kambi.