With Flashli'-iit and Rifle 



rather, for it was a hot day for them to be out on the 

 vek. Thev were about i .000 yards away. There was 

 unusually little wind, but that little was unfavourable, 

 so I made a wide dcHour and had the satisfaction, alter 

 about half an hour, of seeing the animals settle down 

 too-ether under a tree. Accomijanied now b\- onl\ two 

 of my bearers and tw(j Masai, 1 succeeded in approaching 

 warily within 1 20 yards of them — it happened, contrary 

 to tht: general rule, that the\ had no rhinoceros-birds on 

 them — taking uj) my position fmally behind a fairly thick 

 brier-bush growing out ot a low antdiill. 



I had taken several pictures successfully with my 

 telephoto-lens, when suddenly for some reason the 

 animals stood up (juickly, l:)oth together as is their wont. 

 Almost simultaneously, the farther of the two, an old cow, 

 began moving the front part of her body to and fVo, and 

 then, followed by the bull with head high in the air, came 

 straight for me full gallop. 1 had instinctively felt what 

 would ha])p(-n, and in a moment my rifle was in m\- hands 

 and my camera passed to my bearers. 1 fired six shots 

 and succeeded in bringing down both animals twice; as 

 they rushed towards me — great furrows in the sand of the 

 velt showed where they fell. 



My final shot 1 fired in the absolute certainix that my 

 last hour had come. It hit the cow on the; nape of the 

 neck and at the same moment 1 sprang to the right, to 

 the other side of the brier-busli. My two men had taken 

 to flight 1)\- tliis time, but one of the; Masai ran across 

 m\- path at this critical moment and sprang right into 

 the; bush. lie had e\idently waited In the e.\[)ectation 



238 



