A FINE BULL 



others remained with him, moving round and round 

 and trying to make him get up, but the other one 

 galloped off and disappeared in the bush. As I 

 thought the oryx was hit in the shoulder, I sat down 

 for about ten minutes, and then got up and walked 

 towards him to finish him off. But as he caught 

 sight of me, he rose, and with the cow dashed off 

 madly towards the bush. 



Although running on three legs only he went at 

 a great pace. I was very much disappointed, and 

 could not make out where I had hit, but I decided to 

 follow him and try to put him out of his misery. So 

 I took up the blood spoor, which was very clear, at a 

 trot, and soon I reached and entered the bush once 

 more. I proceeded more cautiously, and presently, on 

 looking through the undergrowth, I made him out 

 under a tree not 40 yards away. It was an easy shot, 

 and I brought him down with a broken neck. He 

 proved to be a fine bull in the height of condition, 

 with a symmetrical and massive pair of horns measur- 

 ing a shade under 34 inches in length. This is 

 a good average length for a herd bull, but the 

 horns of cows and old bulls leading a solitary life 

 attain a much greater size ; my bullet had hit him 

 just above the hoof, breaking the bone completely — 

 a bad shot indeed, but one that proved effective, 

 luckily for me. Leaving my gun-bearer and skinner 

 with him, I walked back to camp with my orderly, 

 and found my tent up and the camels grazing. The 

 men were delighted with the news that I had killed, 

 and all the meat was soon brought back. 



The next four days were spent in examining the 

 eastern portion of the swamp ; every moment was 

 precious, for my supply of rice had now given out 



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