310 THRILLING ADVENTURES. 



pedition, having directed my men to catch and saddle Coles- 

 burg. In a few minutes the giraffes were slowly advancing 

 within two hundred yards, stretching their graceful necks, 

 and gazing in wonder at the unwonted wagons. Grasping 

 my rifle, I now mounted Colesburg, and rode slowly towards 

 them. They continued gazing at the wagons until I was 

 within one hundred yards of them, when, whisking their long 

 tails over their rumps, they made off at an easy canter. As 

 I pressed upon them they increased their pace ; but Coles- 

 burg had much the speed of them, and before we had pro- 

 ceeded half a mile I was riding by the shoulder of the dark 

 chestnut old bull, whose head towered high above the rest. 

 Letting fly at the gallop, I wounded him behind the shoulder ; 

 soon after which I broke him from the herd, and presently, 

 going a head of him, he came to a stand. I then gave him 

 a second bullet somewhere near the first. These two shots 

 had taken effect, and he was now in my power, but I would 

 not lay him low so far from canip, so, having waited until he 

 had regained his breath, I drove him half-way back towards 

 the wagons. Here he became obstreperous ; so, loading one 

 barrel, and pointing my rifle towards the clouds, I shot him 

 in the throat, when, rearing high, he fell backwards and ex- 

 pired. This was a magnificent specimen of the giraffe, 

 measuring upwards of eighteen feet in height. I stood for 

 nearly half an hour engrossed in the contemplation of his 

 extreme beauty and gigantic proportions ; and, if there had 

 been no elephants, I should have exclaimed, like Duke Alex- 

 ander of Gordon, when he killed the famous old stag with 

 seventeen tine, "Now I can die happy." But I longed for 

 an encounter with the noble elephants, and I thought little 

 more of the giraffe than if I had killed a blauwbok or an eland. 

 In the afternoon I removed my wagons to a correct dis- 

 tance from the fountain, and drew them up among some 

 bushes about four hundred yards to leeward of the water. 

 In the evening I was employed in manufacturing hardened 



