A FAMILY PARTY 



four empty tanks to fill up at the last pool. At 

 twelve o'clock I sat down to lunch, and was just think- 

 ing over my hard luck in losing the gerenuk, when 

 my eye was caught by the sight of several vultures 

 hovering over the bush in the direction from which 

 we had come. So I immediately sent one of my 

 guides to see if he could find what had attracted 

 them, and told some porters to go with him. Sure 

 enough in less than an hour they were back with 

 the little that remained of the buck, for the birds had 

 completely ruined the skin. I was delighted, how- 

 ever, as the horns were uninjured, and they proved 

 to be a fine pair, heavy and symmetrical. 



Later in the afternoon I left camp in search of 

 game ; for a long time I saw nothing, but at last 

 discovered a family party of gerenuk, buck, doe and 

 calf, resting in the shade of a bush. I was again 

 favoured by the wind and plenty of cover, and 

 approached to within 90 yards, when I stumbled 

 over a branch. The gerenuk whipped round in 

 alarm, so seizing the opportunity I took rapid aim, 

 and made an excellent shot as he was almost facing 

 me. The bullet entered the front of the shoulder and 

 lodged just under the skin near the hip, mushroom- 

 ing perfectly and making a terrible wound. The buck 

 was in beautiful condition, and carried a handsome 

 pair of horns, so I decided to take the whole skin. I 

 was very much gratified with my success in getting 

 two nice specimens from this district, and began to 

 think that, after all, the guide was not far wrong in 

 describing Joreh as a hunter's paradise. 



I decided I would go on a little farther, although 

 it was growing late, in the hope of seeing arrola, 

 which my guide insisted were to be found on these 



105 



