"One Dog Night"
Oil on panel, 12x16
SOLD

As light turns to dark, a male leopard cautiously follows a well-worn path in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro. The cat has been here before, perhaps as recent as last night. As it slinks in and out of the long grass at the side of the trail, it passes the familiar dimly glowing lights of a nearby village. The cat continues on its seemingly purposeful mission. It frequently stops to sniff tracks and check out its surroundings. Native voices, possibly herdsmen, fade away as the cat continues on its way, but now walking closer to the ground. It stops and crouches low, it peers through the grass and watches the comings and goings of an unfamiliar tented camp. Patiently it waits. The fires still blaze all around the camp, but the strange voices are silent. The bright cold moon illuminates the scene as the leopard with characteristic stealth slinks towards the camp. It approaches one tent and silently circles it once before its attention is drawn to another. Still creeping low to the ground undeterred by the flickering light of the fires, it picks up its pace and, with the feline audacity, common only to leopards, it rushes through the open flap of the tent and in a flash, steals away with its chosen prey and disappears into the night.

The year is 1903; the place is German East Africa (later Tanganyika, now Tanzara). The camp is that of two hunters, a young Austro-Hungarian sporting gentleman and an old African military man. The men had pitched their tents about one hundred yards apart and were there to hunt elephant in the area that was soon to be a protected reserve. The old African owned a bulldog, named Simba. He loved his dog and it went everywhere with him. It would sleep under the bed in his tent. This night however, his massive loyal companion was snatched from beneath him with unbelievable speed by the marauding leopard. Although the leopard was forced to eventually drop its quarry by the pursuing hunters, the poor dog was killed.