A FINE PRIZE 



he was just 8i yards off. Now was my chance, 

 so, grasping the '450 firmly, and taking a fine bead 

 on his shoulder, I fired ; the report was too loud for 

 me to hear the bullet clap, but I saw him fall, rise 

 and fall again, the blood pouring in torrents from his 

 mouth. Greatly delighted I ran forward, and found 

 him lying dead, the bullet having gone through the 

 lungs and out on the other side. 



And what a magnificent prize he proved ! 

 Absolutely in the height of condition, and in the 

 prime of life, he carried on his small and shapely 

 head a wonderfully handsome pair of horns. They 

 were enormously massive and measured 27^ inches on 

 the front curve, thus exceeding the previous record. 

 The following are the measurements which I took 

 upon the field : Height at shoulder, 48 inches ; length 

 from tip of nose to root of tail along the curves of 

 the body, 69 inches ; girth behind shoulder, 48 inches ; 

 length of tail, 18 inches. 



After taking several photographs of him I sent 

 for a camel and had him taken back to camp while 

 I went on ; and while returning to camp I saw two 

 topi and five gerenuk ; two of the latter were fighting 

 furiously, their little horns locked, often going down 

 on their knees in their furious endeavours to over- 

 throw each other. Watching them and apparently 

 totally absorbed in the sight the two topi stood 

 together quite motionless on an ant-heap. They 

 looked exceedingly foolish and solemn standing there, 

 and their interest in the fi^ht cost one of them his 

 life, for I crawled through the grass till I was within 

 50 yards. Before firing I too watched the gerenuk 

 until one had almost overcome the other ; I then 

 aimed at the biggest of the two topi and brought 



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