526 irtnas of tbe 1Rofc, IRifle, anfc Gun 



and fired ; but just as I pulled trigger he turned 

 round, and had he not uttered a moaning kind of yell 

 denoting pain, I should have been afraid that I had 

 missed him. In the twinkling of an eye they were off 

 and although I fired a snap-shot at one of them as I saw 

 its head rise above the brushwood, and heard the ' thud ' 

 of the bullet as it struck him somewhere in the back, 

 they got over the ground much faster than I could 

 follow. On going up to the places where they were 

 standing when 1 fired, I found two distinct tracks 

 stained with drops of blood ; and the wound of the 

 one I first hit must have been very severe, as, besides 

 large gouts of blood here and there, the ground was 

 marked with bloody saliva. My people then came up, 

 and one of the villagers informed me that there was a 

 large prairie on the other side of this belt of forest so I 

 determined to try and beat them out. Going back 

 to the place where I left the rest of the people, I ordered 

 them to commence beating the wood as soon as they 

 were rejoined by Tom Dick, whom I took with me : 

 then skirting the edge of the cover, I took post behind 

 a bush on a rising in the prairie beyond, from whence 

 any animal that broke into the open could be seen. I 

 then sent the Krooman back, and told him to tell the 

 people to make all the noise they could, and fire their 

 guns so as to start any animal that might be in the 

 cover ; and in less than half an hour there was a row 

 as if Pandemonium had broken loose. First two n'cheri 

 antelopes came bounding into the plain, then two 

 sounders of hog trotted past me with their snouts in the 

 air, and afterwards three gorillas went shuffling over the 



