XII ROAN ANTELOPE SHOT 247 



foliage in their rear 1 was close upon them. My 

 sudden apparition of course caused a panic, and away 

 they went again at top speed. I saw at a glance that 

 the bull was not there, and thinking that he must 

 have turned out or f;illen dead in the thick bush 

 behind, gave a cow a shot as she galloped straight 

 away, which, striking her just at the root of the tail, 

 brought her to the ground at once, powerless in the 

 hind-quarters. On riding up and dismounting to 

 give her the coup de grace, she tried to drag herself 

 towards me on her fore-legs, her eyes glaring like 

 those of a wounded buffalo. She then made a loud 

 squealing noise, when I put a term to her suffering 

 with a bullet through the shoulders. As she had a 

 very fair pair of horns, I cut off her head and hid it 

 in a thick bushy tree, trusting that no harm would 

 befall it before the Kafirs could fetch it when I sent 

 for the meat next morning. Then breaking off a 

 dry stake, and tying a large bunch of dry grass on 

 the end of it, I stuck it into the ground alongside the 

 carcase to keep off the vultures (this plan answers 

 sometimes, though not always, but I know of no 

 other that ever does, though I have heard of and 

 tried many). Trusting to Providence on the score 

 of lions and hyaenas, I now took the spoor backwards 

 into the bush to look for the wounded bull, and see 

 if there was any blood. I soon hit it off, and, finding 

 a great deal of blood, followed it, not expecting that 

 the wounded beast would go very far. After spoor- 

 ing for about a mile the traces of blood became less 

 and less frequent, and at length only a few drops 

 appeared at long intervals. Still, as the ground was 

 soft and damp the spoor was easy enough to follow, 

 until after another mile or so I found myself among 

 the tracks of the whole herd, that must have run 



