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.
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.