MY SOMALI BOOK 95 



Oil this morning we came across four gereniik, all 

 bucks together, which is unusual. An attempt to 

 stalk one was foiled by a second, and when I at length 

 got a shot it was a standing one, rather unsteady in 

 the prevailing high wind, and I only succeeded in 

 breaking a fore-leg. A running shot as he passed 

 between two bushes was a miss. After that I could 

 not get near him and missed a third shot, under- 

 estimating the distance, at 300 yards. Next shot was 

 a hit but too low. Then the buck lay up in thick bush 

 and I took the Paradox and crept after him, bowling 

 him over with a snap-shot as he jumped up thirty 

 yards away. A very fair head. 



While he was being skinned a messenger came up 

 from Abdilleh, who was with the caravan, to say that 

 a leopard had been marked down further on. I 

 hurried off and we came up with the caravan, which 

 had halted ; they pointed out a bush on the hill-side, 

 200 yards away, into which one of the camel-men had 

 seen the leopard go. Their attention had been attracted 

 to him by the behaviour of some aoul which he had 

 presumably been stalking. Pity there was none to 

 mark my circumspect advance towards that bush, 

 Paradox in hand, and backed up by two rifles ! At 

 length I distinguished in the shadow the outline of 

 part of a round head and fired, on the qui vive for a 

 possible charge. Not a move : the bullet had evidently 

 found the marauder's brain. And so it proved — but 

 it was the brain of a grey wild cat {Felis ocreata) / 

 Parhiriunt 7nontes, nascitur ridiculus mus — if not a 

 mouse in this instance it was at most a mouser ! 



Poor Abdilleh, he was very sick about it, he had 



