VII CHETAH RUN DOWN 127 



behind the male, came to a halt, and we galloped 

 past within a few yards of them, as we wanted to 

 kill the largest of the three. These two female 

 chetahs did not crouch down, but stood looking at 

 us as we shot past them. We chased the big 

 male another fifty yards through the open forest, 

 and were quite close up to him, when he suddenly 

 stopped and crouched, all in one motion as it were, 

 and lay with his long thin body pressed flat to the 

 ground. Van Rooyen and I were so near him 

 that, going at the pace we were, we could not pull 

 in our horses until we were thirty or forty yards 

 beyond where he lay. The chetah, however, never 

 moved again, but lay perfectly still watching us, and 

 we dismounted and shot him where he lay. We 

 never saw anything more of the two females, which 

 must have run off as soon as we had passed them. 



Two years later, in October 1887, I was riding 

 one day with three English gentlemen (Messrs. 

 J. A. Jameson, Frank Cooper, and A. Fountaine, all 

 of whom are alive to-day and will be able to corro- 

 borate my story) through the country lying between 

 the upper waters of the Sebakwe and Umniati rivers 

 in Mashunaland. The ground was not quite open, 

 as it was covered here and there with a growth of 

 small trees, but as these grew very sparsely there 

 was nothing to stop one from riding at full gallop 

 in every direction. As we rode along I was on the 

 left of our party. Suddenly my horse turned his 

 head and snorted. I at once pulled him in, calling 

 to my companions to stop, as I thought my horse 

 must have smelt a lion lying somewhere near us. 



I had scarcely spoken when up jumped a very 

 large male chetah within twenty yards of my horse 

 and bounded away across the open ground, holding 

 his long, thick, furry tail straight out behind him. 



This chetah did not get much of a start, as we 

 galloped after him as soon as ever we could get 



