BRITISH EAST AFRICA 239 



A day or so before leaving Nyeri I had a great 

 time with another of these animals. We had marked 

 him down and were getting close to the spot, above a 

 steep bank overhanging the river, from which I hoped 

 to get a shot, when a slight puff of wind at my back 

 warned me that there was no time to be lost. I 

 reached the top of the bank and saw the buck making 

 off into some fearfully thick bush. I had a hasty shot 

 and hit him, for it was all he could do to avoid falling 

 into the river. The bank, as I have said, was nearly 

 perpendicular, and from the outside it seemed that a 

 rabbit could hardly have crawled through the bush, 

 let alone an animal the size of a bushbuck. However, 

 where a bushbuck could go, we could follow, and for 

 the next hour we followed a good blood trail through 

 impenetrable thorns and creepers. I heartily wished 

 I had never touched him before we were done. Going 

 down a buffalo trail was Piccadilly compared to it. 

 We heard him twice and found where he had stopped 

 to rest. Finally he jumped into the river, where we 

 got him. 



The same evening the Assistant Deputy -Com- 

 missioner having finished his arduous duties early, we 

 went out together and killed a fair water-buck. 

 Before starting I heard a long conversation taking 

 place between him and his general domestic, a small 

 boy aged about twelve. I got it translated after. This 

 was how it went. 



The BOY. " Is the Bwana going shooting ? " 



The A.D.C. "Yes!" 



