372 BIG GAME SHOOTING \ 



had had a good rest, my heart had ceased to beat wildly and ; 

 my hand was steady, so squeezing the trigger gradually and! 

 firmly, the report of the rifle was followed by the loud smack] 

 which tells an old hand all he wants to know. Not wasting a^ 

 look on the big one, I shifted the sights on to one of the others 

 and fired just as he bounded off. Another smack told that ] 

 that bullet, too, had found its billet, but the beast made off with] 

 its companions. On dashing frantically down the hill and up* 

 the other side of a small ravine, I saw cne Poli standing and! 

 looking about him two hundred and fifty yards off. Lying down! 

 I tried to take a careful aim, but I found the rifle was pointind 

 ten feet over his back one second and the next twenty feet below! 

 him. This was no good, so I lay quiet in the hope that h( 

 might be so unsophisticated as to stay there until my pooi 

 panting frame recovered its steadiness ; but alas ! in a fe) 

 seconds he was off. 



However, I was satisfied that he was unhurt, and the 

 wounded one probably lay between us and him, so that I 

 once took up the search for the beast, the man on the hil 

 coming in now very handily, directing us by a prearranged cod( 

 of signals. 



Presently this man (Dewanna) got very excited and kept 

 signalling ' below, below.' As we were then at the bottom oi 

 the valley we were at a loss to know how to go any lowed 

 when out from behind a large boulder came the Poli, very 

 sick indeed ; but to make sure I gave him another barrel ana = 

 rushed up to gloat over my latest prize, measuring 59 ins. \ 

 along the left and 58^ ins. along the right horn. \ 



I then started up hill back to where the first one lay. On ■ 

 getting up to him I was rather disappointed, as I had thought | 

 that he was bigger than his comrade, and I pulled out the:': 

 tape and began to measure: 'sixty, sixty-one, two, two and a half'i- 

 — thank goodness, at last I had got a trophy that would hold;* 

 its own in any company, and one that will still be a comfort, a!i 

 joy, and a thing of beauty when old Time has so stiffened myjl 



