A NARROW ESCAPE 65 



away, apparently very badly hit. A shot from 

 the 0'2SO at 150 yards again knocked the sable 

 down, and he lay so still that I thought he must 

 be dead, and walked up to him somewhat care- 

 lessly. When within some 10 yards, the bull 

 jumped up and charged me, and I had some 

 difficulty in avoiding the sweep of his horns just 

 before he was killed at very close range. The 

 animal had a body as large as that of a roan and 

 much larger than that of the ordinary sable, the 

 shoulder height measured roughly 4 feet 9 inches, 

 and. the horns, which were very massive and had 

 little curve, 54 inches. The markings on the face 

 were entirely different from those of the ordinary 

 sable, for, instead of the long white bar from eye 

 to muzzle, the light patch on his face only ex- 

 tended for a short distance below the eye, and 

 was more of a cream than a white colour. 



"My gun-boys told me that a still larger bull 

 had gone off to the west, limping as if hit, but 

 though we searched for two hours we could find 

 no tracks of the animal. One of the stray bullets 

 which missed the first may have hit another bull 

 hidden in the grass well behind the herd, but it is 

 more probable that the natives had mistaken the 

 direction they thought the supposed second bull 

 had taken, and confounded him wit] the animal 

 already shot. 



" After skinning the sable, cutting off the head, 

 and dividing up the meat into suitable loads, we 

 marched back to the main camp on the Rurnelia, 

 a cheery, singing crowd. The natives were happy 

 in their visions of unlimited meat and beer, and 

 5 



