THE BIG GAAIE OF AFRICA 



beast I shot at him with my Httle MannHcher, " long dis- 

 tance " rifle. When I fired, the gnu stood on the slopes of 

 a little hill, and about one hundred and fifty yards from 

 the top of the same. As soon as he was hit, for I plainly 

 heard the bullet strike the animal, he galloped off over the 

 crest of the hill and disappeared. We ran as quickly as 

 possible up to the top of the hill, as I thought the bull 

 might stop on the other side, as soon as he was unable to 

 see us any more, but coming up over the ridge we found 

 him standing on the plains over four hundred yards far- 

 ther away, with outspread legs and lowered head, his tail 

 hanging straight down. Here he stood motionless for 

 several seconds. Understanding that he hiust have been 

 very severely wounded, I took the camera and ran down 

 as fast as I could to photograph the animal before it should 

 fall. I was really fortunate enough to get a couple of 

 good pictures of the grand old bull before he fell. When 

 dissecting the animal we found that I had by mistake used 

 a steel-capped bullet in the 6 millimeter Mannlicher which, 

 although it had gone through the heart and one of the 

 lungs, had only made such a small hole that the animal was 

 able to go as far as it did before it died. 



One of the most curious experiences which I have ever 

 had with any kind of an animal happened with an old gnu 

 on the Sotik plains in 1909. Finding a splendid-looking 

 bull standing alone, I ventured a shot with the small Mann- 

 licher at the great distance of over three hundred and fifty 

 yards. As soon as the gun cracked the animal went down 

 in a heap and we all rushed forward to claim our trophy. 

 As the horns were rather fine, I wanted to photograph the 

 animal before we should begin to skin it, so I laid down 



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