MY SOMALI BOOK 181 



250 3/ards distant, and looking at us. There was 

 no cover and no hope of getting nearer ; while 

 with foresight all blurred in the noon-day glare the 

 shot was a trying one. For the time being too, after 

 3;^esterday's exhibition, I had lost confidence ; so, 

 of course, I missed. Away went the kudu. Pulling 

 myself together, I tried again, a long "flying" shot, 

 and rather a forlorn hope. Oh ! the joy as the sound 

 came of the bullet's answering thud. The bull went 



on, I had hardly expected a stern shot like that to 

 bring him down, but the glasses showed that one leg 

 was broken high up, and I knew he was mine. He 

 could never climb the hill, and a wounded kudu has 

 not the stamina of hartebeest or oryx. They dis- 

 appeared into a nullah, but on the farther side the cow 

 reappeared climbing the hill alone. When I reached 

 the nullah the bull dashed out in a last gallant effort 

 to escape, but a quick shot at seventy yards paralysed 

 the spinal column behind and brought him down. 

 A good head, though not the equal of my first in 1907; 



