66 THROUGH ANGOLA 



I was equally happy in the possession of a splendid 

 trophy. 



" After spending two hours in preparing the 

 sable head - skin, I went off to see if my luck 

 would hold again, and stalked with just one man 

 along the banks of the Rumelia stream. The 

 evening was a perfect one ; the forest was here 

 open and park-like, and in the glades green grass 

 was springing up through the charred stalks and 

 ashes of last year's burnt growth. Winding 

 between its grass and tree- covered banks, the 

 stream, now no longer running, spread out in a 

 series of jungle pools, the haunt of all kinds of 

 birds and small animals. My guide and I walked 

 very quietly down the path which followed the 

 stream, listening and watching for any sign of 

 that jungle life which I felt sure must be plentiful 

 in such surroundings. In turn we saw a red 

 duiker, a genet, what looked like an otter, and a 

 serval. Just before dusk, we suddenly came upon 

 a bull sable, standing and watching us from a 

 burnt patch of forest --looking exactly like one 

 of its charred and blackened tree stumps. He 

 ran off before I could fire, but a lucky shot knocked 

 him over, and a second one killed him. This 

 animal, though smaller in the body than the herd 

 bull shot in the morning, carried a long pair of 

 horns, measuring 56 inches. We left the body of 

 the sable where it lay, after covering it over with 

 branches to prevent carnivora eating the meat 

 and destroying the skin. 



" It had been a lucky hunting day, but the good 

 fortune did not extend to photography; for the 



