XVIII ADVENTURE WITH A CROCODILE 



^39 



moment the gerenuk got out of sight I mounted 

 and cantered after him as fast as the thorny nature 

 of the bush and undergrowth would allow. In the 

 meantime he had galloped across the front of my 

 companions, and Mrs. B., not knowing that I was 

 in pursuit, began to stalk him also, as he had now 

 got into a bit of open country where he could 

 be plainly seen. As soon as she caught sight of me 

 she immediately stopped her stalk, and would not 

 go on, although I offered to relinquish the hunt 

 in her favour. I therefore continued the chase 

 alone, and finally, after about an hour's hard work, 

 got a fairly favourable shot at him as he stood in 

 the midst of a herd of does beside some bushes. 

 Although I heard the smack of the lead as it struck 

 him, yet I was not at all sure that I had hit a vital 

 spot, as the whole herd appeared to gallop away. 

 On running up to the place where he had stood, I 

 was delighted to find that he lay stretched out dead 

 with a bullet through his heart. 



The horns proved to be the longest on record 

 of any gerenuk shot in the Protectorate, and I 

 was naturally much pleased to be thus rewarded 

 after so many disappointments — not because of the 

 extra fraction which the horns measured, but 

 because I had at last made a successful stalk and 

 secured a good head. 



