BRITISH EAST AFRICA 193 



saw several with much finer heads. It is very 

 hard to make up one's mind whether to shoot an 

 animal with a fair head which one sees for the 

 first time. If passed by, a better head may never 

 present itself; if taken, the odds are one sees several 

 beasts with finer horns. 



The gazelle had walked out into the open about 

 a hundred and eighty yards off, and as the buck had 

 a nice head I shot him. 



Burton got two nice oryx the same day, and 

 I saw a good rhino on my way back to camp, but 

 could not get a shot at him. I had not finished with 

 my villainous trio of attendants. I left them to 

 bring in the heads, skins, meat, &c., but they never 

 turned up in camp. We sent out search parties, 

 who did not succeed in finding them. On my return 

 from hunting the following day I was met with the 

 pleasing intelligence that the lost ones had arrived 

 minus my eland head. Finding that they were lost in 

 the dark they had thoughtfully deposited my head 

 beneath a tree, and when daylight came found they 

 had lost that as well as themselves. Three days 

 later it was recovered, but the scalp was hopelessly 

 ruined. 



Eland are better eating than any animal I shot 

 in Africa, being beautifully juicy and tender. 



On my way back to camp I had fallen in with 

 the Colonel. He, his wife, and a friend were camping 

 close to us, and that evening we fraternised over 

 a cup of coffee. The Colonel, it appeared, was finish- 



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