t 



' CH. XV] SADDLE-BACKED LECHWE 447 



cautiously climb an ant-hill to look about. Nothing- 

 would be in sight. We would scan the ground in every 

 direction ; still nothing. Suddenly a dozen heads would 

 pop up, just above the grass, two or three hundred 

 yards oif, and after a steady gaze would disappear, and 

 some minutes later would again appear a quarter of a 

 mile farther on. Usually they skulked off at a trot or 

 canter, necks stretched level with the back, for they 

 were great skulkers, and trusted chiefly to escaping 

 observation and stealing away from danger unperceived. 

 But occasionally they would break into a gallop, making 

 lofty bounds, clear above the tops of the grass, and then 

 they might go a long way before stopping. I never saw 

 them leap on the ant-hills to look about, as is the 

 custom of the common or Uganda kob. They were 

 rather noisy ; we heard them grunting continually, both 

 when they were grazing and when they saw us. 



At last, from an ant-hill, 1 saw dim outlines of two or 

 three aiiimals moving past a little over a hundred yards 

 ahead. There was nothing to shoot at, but a moment 

 afterward I saw a pair of horns through the grass tops, 

 in such a position that it was evident the owner was look- 

 ing at me. I guessed that he had been moving in the 

 direction iii which the others had gone, and I guessed at 

 the position of the shoulder and fired. The horns dis- 

 appeared. Then I caught a glimpse, first of a doe, next 

 of a buck, in full flight, each occasionally appearing for 

 an instant in a great bound over the grass tops. I had 

 no idea whether or not I had hit my buck, so Cuning- 

 hame stayed on the ant-heap to guide us, while Kongoni 

 and I plunged into the long grass, as high as our heads. 

 Sure enough, there was the buck, a youngish one, about 

 four years old ; my bullet had gone true. WHiile we 

 were looking at him we suddenly caught a momentary 



