THE HARTEBEEST AND ZEBRA 



seconds, when it received another bullet, which ended 

 its life. 



When Mr. Lang and the other two men arrived, we 

 were very much puzzled what to do, as night was coming 

 on, and the place we had selected for the camp being more 

 than two miles distant. Having taken the correct meas- 

 urements of the beautiful giraffe, I proposed that Mr. 

 Lang, with the assistance of the gun bearer and the two 

 porters, should skin the animal, while I was to return to 

 the camping place, whence I should send back men with 

 lanterns to bring the skin to camp. 



When I came near to the place, where we had left the 

 last of our men, I found, to my great surprise, that he was 

 still alone, and that not another man of the caravan was 

 in sight. This porter told me with the greatest excite- 

 ment that he had seen some of the men of the caravan in 

 the far distance, marching ofif in a different direction. 

 He thought that the whole safari was lost, and that we 

 would now have to sleep without tents, food, or anything. 

 This was, indeed, not a very bright outlook, as that par- 

 ticular place was noted for its abundance of lions, leopards, 

 and other dangerous game. 



I took the expedition flag and, ordering the porter to 

 follow me, ran up on a high ant-hill nearby. From this 

 place I finally saw with the glasses some four or five men, 

 with loads on their heads, march off in another direction 

 about two miles away, soon disappearing among the 

 bushes. I shouted at the top of my lungs and fired several 

 shots with the big elephant gun, while I had the men wave 

 the " Stars and Stripes." After a few anxious moments 

 I noticed some men standing together in a little opening, 



199 



