THE MIGHTIEST NIMROD OF MODERN TIMES. 356 



knew was a male inyala — the first that my eyes had ever looked on 

 in the flesh, 



" My rifle was a single-barreled one, and before I could fire the 

 shot that might make that rare and beautiful beast mine, I had to 

 open the breech of my rifle, take another cartridge from my belt, 

 slip it into the cham]3er, close the breech again, and then raise the 

 rifle to my shoulder and take aim. 



'' All this meant time and noise. Would the inyala, which stood 

 like a statue beside the dead body of his mate, give me the few 

 seconds I required to take his life, too? 



" I little thought he would, but he did; and as I raised ni} 

 rifle once more, and took a quick but careful sight on his dark shoul- 

 ders, I felt, as I pulled the trigger, that he was mine. 



SHOT RIGHT THROUGH THE SHOULDERS. 



" As the report of the rifle sounded he plunged madly forward, 

 and was instantly lost to sight in the thick scrub. But I felt sure 

 he carried death with him, and so it proved, for we found him lying 

 dead not twenty yards from where he had stood v^^hen the bullet 

 struck him. The fatal missile had passed right through his shoul- 

 ders, and having expanded on impact, had torn his heart to i)ieces." 



These antelopes, now much depleted in number even within 

 the few years that have elapsed since Mr. Selous secured his speci- 

 rhens, are about seven feet six inches in total length for the adult 

 male, and three feet four inches high at the shoulder, elegant and 

 robust in form, with horns nearly two feet in length, twisted and 

 having very sharp, polished extremities. 



Colonel Roosevelt's hopes of securing a pair or more are greatly 

 encouraged by the aid of Mr. Selous, of whom he believes, as did 

 Captain Cuttle of Jack Bunsby, " if anybody kin, he kin." 



Not alone from the big game of the jungle does the himter into 

 East Africa encounter physical danger. Lurking in the pathway 

 of the hunter is a standing menace from infectious fevers common 

 to this locality, and it is fortunate that Colonel Roosevelt has become 

 hardened to exposure through years of roughing it in the far west. 

 The experiences of his strenuous life has inured him to all kinds 



