24 MY SOMALI BOOK 



and for the next two hours stuck to his trail grandly, 

 for the tracking was frequently very difficult, and 

 though we must often have been very close to him he 

 was an old hand and would not show himself or stop. 

 At last we were afraid it was no good ; it was 

 5.30 p.m. and the sun would set in less than half an 

 hour, when, as we came round a corner on the side of a 

 hill, Elmi grabbed my arm and pointed — there, about 

 eighty yards down the hill-side, I saw the head and 

 shoulders of the great antelope as he stood for a 

 moment among some bushes, horns thrown back, 

 looking up at us. It did not take five seconds to 

 throw up the Mannlicher, aim behind the shoulder and 

 fire. Away he crashed down the hill out of sight, 

 but I knew I had him, and sure enough forty yards 

 further we found him lying at his last gasp : a grand 

 beast, as big as a large sambar stag, with a short mane 

 and bearded throat and a really good head. The 

 little spht buUet had found his heart. 



It was a great finish to a hard day's work. During 

 the four hours we had been on his trail I had not had 

 a glimpse of him the whole time, and but for the 

 excellent tracking of my men should never have got 

 him. We were three hours' journey from camp, so 

 left Kabarah to take off the head and skin and keep 

 them in an adjacent karia until the morning, while 

 Elmi and I started to find our w^ay down to our steeds. 

 I was unquestionably fortunate in obtaining a big 

 kudu at the first attempt ; the horns measured fifty 

 inches on the curve, and had a fine wide spread, good 

 for Somaliland. It was my one regret that it had been 

 too dark to photograph him as he lay. Standing 



