SLADANG. 103 



were not more than a hundred yards away, and broad- 

 side on. 



I turned for my second rifle to Saleh, who had 

 been standing close behind me when I fired. But to 

 my horror I saw that he had slipped away a yard or 

 two to one side of me ; and, even as I turned, I saw 

 him fire both barrels into the air high over the backs 

 of the galloping animals. I reloaded my own rifle 

 as quickly as possible, but before I could get the 

 stock to my shoulder the animals had reached the 

 cover of the forest. It was all over. I turned again 

 to Saleh, who was reloading the rifle, and, now that 

 the madness of the moment had left him, was looking 

 somewhat sheepish in anticipation of my displeasure. 



But I could not trust myself to speak. It was 

 bad enough to have missed such a shot at seventy 

 yards, and to know that the chance of a lifetime 

 had presented itself only to be thrown away ; but 

 it was far worse to feel that there had been such 

 an extraordinary opportunity of retrieving a failure, 

 when the big bull's great shoulders had offered so 

 easy a shot as he galloped by at the head of his herd, 

 and that this wretched man had spoilt everything 

 by his miserable imbecility. It was not as if I had 

 not told him what to do, I said to myself miserably. 

 It was not as if he had not known perfectly what he 

 had to do. If there had been any possible good in 

 what he had done, one could have stood it; but to 

 think that he had senselessly, uselessly, loosed off 

 both barrels into the sky ! It was excruciating. I 

 realised helplessly that the big bull and the herd 

 that had been so close to me were still galloping 



