xviii ADVENTURE WITH A CROCODILK 237 



again I went out in the afternoon when camp iiad 

 been pitched and everything set in order. 



I made various attempts to stalk a gerenuk, 

 but failed time after time, so much so that I was 

 thoroughly exasperated with my bad fortune. They 

 are very shy indeed, more especially the males, and 

 I found it very difficult to get one. It appears that 

 the Wandorobo hunt this srazelle with ^rreat zeal, as 

 they prize its tender and delicious meat very highly. 

 For this reason, probably, they were very timid and 

 hard to approach. However, I was determined to 

 get a specimen if possible, so spent several hot 

 afternoons scrambling among the bushes studying 

 their ways. I generally found that they travelled 

 in a circle when attacked. 



One day, when I was out alone, I came across a 

 beauty, with what I should think were record horns, 

 standing on his hind legs with his fore-feet resting 

 against a tree trunk, and his long neck craned up to 

 the branches, eating away contentedly at the tender 

 leaves and green shoots. " Now is my chance," I 

 said to myself; so, making my gun-bearer lie down, 

 and telling him on no account to move, I began a 

 long stalk. Soon after I started, a dip in the ground 

 took me into cover, and then I dodged from bush 

 to bush, and from tree to tree, gradually getting 

 nearer to the still feeding gazelle. 



No luck was in store for me, however, as I had 



