"Night Stalker"
Oil on panel, 36x18"
SOLD

The aptly named John Alexander Hunter, arrived in Kenya in 1908 and served his apprenticeship as a guard on the Uganda Railway (the Lunatic Express) ,killing lions for the railroad before becoming a white hunter to the rich and famous. J.A., as he was known to his friends, was a crack shot and bagged more than 1400 elephants and held a record for the number of rhino kills. He was also often called upon to get rid of troublesome lions or leopards in the colony settlements.

This night he was huddled in and under a bush which he’d hollowed out to act as a blind. Some elderly Maasai chiefs had sent an urgent message requesting his help in getting rid of an enormous leopard which had been killing their prized cattle. The Manyatta and Kraal were in good leopard country close to rocky ravines interspersed with thorn bushes. He knew he would be at a definite disadvantage if he tried to search for the leopard. He was going to wait for it to come to him. He knew the leopard would be abroad somewhere and hopefully it did not know where he was hiding. As the day turned to night he got prepared for the anticipated encounter. The bush he’d selected was close to where the last leopard attack had taken place, so he felt confident the leopard would return. The evening turned into a clear starry night, but there was no sign of his foe. The vigil was turning out to be longer than he expected. Then, in the early hours of the morning, he caught sight of something moving in the distance. Although his eyes had become accustomed to the dark, it was hard to make it out properly. He could see that it was heading his way, but it seemed too big for a leopard; almost the size of a lioness, he thought. But at night objects do look larger. He watched intently as the beast ever so quietly got nearer and nearer. Sound is amplified in the stillness of the night; so J.A. kept his movements to a minimum. He was going to wait until it was about fifteen yards away before shooting. The animal was soon within his range, and he could now see it was crouching in a menacing manner. As he took aim, he couldn’t see his front sight and didn’t want to overshoot, so he aimed low and fired. He heard the cat grunt as it turned and darted sideways into the bush. The gun report caused quite a rumpus amongst the cattle in the nearby Kraal, which was added to by the sounds of excited Maasai in the Manyatta. He couldn’t be sure if he’d hit it and wondered if he should have waited longer, but he was so tense from the long wait, he had to fire. Now he had no prize to show the Maasai and wouldn’t be able to follow the blood spore until daybreak.

As it became light, he went to where the animal had been standing when he fired. Yes, it was indeed a leopard, and a big one. One of the natives acting as a gunbearer joined J.A. as he followed its trail. Every now and then he could see blood and because of its light color he realized the injury had not been serious and would probably still have fight in it. Leopards are renowned for rallying round and fighting to the end, so J.A. was being very cautious. More Maasai had by then joined them, as they made their way through a gorge with rocks and heavy bush cover on both sides - an ideal place for an injured leopard to hole up. J.A. was fearful of an ambush and cautioned everyone to be watchful. Eventually one of the Maasai motioned that he could see the leopard slinking towards a bush some twenty yards ahead of them. Rather than continue along the trail, J.A. got everyone to walk towards the bush to prevent the cat springing on them from the rocks or the thick cover. As they approached J.A. noticed a dark movement in the center of a tree and fired to avoid a sneak attack. He quickly reloaded and readied himself for the retaliation, which came almost immediately. With a snarl and unbelievable speed, it came out charging all of them. Unable to make a selection it darted one way, then another. Scattering the Maasai and hindered by a broken foreleg from the first shot, it was easily brought down just a few paces from the gleeful natives.