MY SOMALI BOOK 131 



the distance, I saw prowling about in the grass an 

 animal that looked very like my old friend somajesti 

 and a nearer approach showed that it was. He was 

 scratching at something in the ground (if an aard-wolf 

 he would be fond of ants), then when I was about one 

 hundred yards away sat up and looked at me, with ears 

 pricked like a fox. From my previous limited ex- 

 perience of his kind, I believed him to be very shy, 

 so though the visible part of him was a small mark 

 in the grass, I thought I had better fire, using a solid 

 bullet as I did not want to risk spoiling his skin. At 

 the shot he sprang three feet into the air, lay still for 

 a few moments and then began to move towards me 

 with apparently a fore-leg broken. With frequent 

 stoppages he came nearer and nearer, though a bit 

 to one side, then when he had sat down only fifty yards 

 away I committed an unfortunate error of judgment. 

 I had no more '318 solid bullets with me and took the 

 little Sherwood. It was quite powerful enough, but 

 I should have used a capped bullet. However, looking 

 upon Somajesti as disabled, and over-anxious to avoid 

 a big hole in the skin of the new beast, such as the 

 expanding bullet might have made, I used a solid lead 

 bullet. It did not seem too light for its purpose, for 

 he dropped to the shot, and I walked towards him. 

 When, however, I was still thirty yards away he came to 

 life again, picked himself up and bolted away to our 

 right at a pretty useful pace for a cripple — and dis- 

 appeared. Then I realised the explanation of his 

 coming towards us when first hit ; we had unwittingly 

 cut off his retreat to his hole which he had now reached 

 in safety. 



