Topi for the Pot 



They were unsuccessful, and so off I trotted after 

 the latter, one of which through my glasses had 

 appeared to have a fine pair of horns — but, alas ! 

 by then he had fled. I revenged myself, however, 

 on a young gazelle of a fairly common type, but 

 which I met for the first time, and which was very 

 good eating. The horns, though small, were very 

 pretty, the tips curling over to the front, rather after 

 the fashion of a young puppy's ears when cocked. 

 As soon as I got in, my head-boy complained that 

 no food had arrived for my porters. The light 

 was just dying out, but I spied a topi about three 

 hundred yards from the camp, and a lucky shot in 

 the semi-darkness maimed him sufficiently for my 

 orderly to run him down. I tied his head and a 

 part of his body to a tree in the hope of attracting 

 a lion. I was sadly disappointed, as I did not even 

 hear one in the distance, but a herd of elephant 

 visited us and made great sport in a small lake 

 about one hundred yards from where my tent was 

 pitched. I got up in the hope of having a shot, 

 but there was no moon to relieve the inky darkness, 

 and I might have potted a female, so I did not 

 risk it. 



I arose before the sun the next day in the hope 

 of seeing, perhaps, countless herds come down to the 

 water. I was sadly mistaken. They evidently had 

 spotted canvas, for none came until about nine 

 o'clock, when a few gazelles risked it. In the far 

 distance I could see topi and water-buck, but they 

 were evidently full of suspicion. At last the hunters 



157 



