Liwonde to Fort Melangani 



ground overlooking the village, which was a mile 

 away. The place was hot, but a breeze which 

 blew during the day tempered the heat. The 

 altitude was about two thousand feet. Kudu were 

 reported to be plentiful in the neighbourhood, and 



that evening A saw some cows. Next day he 



tracked a bull for some distance, and got fairly close 

 to it, but failed to get a shot, principally owing to 

 '' Black Hat's" inveterate habit of gesticulating and 

 pointing. That evening the luck turned and he got 

 a fine bull, the first I had seen, and a very hand- 

 some beast he was, about five feet in height, with a 

 grey striped coat and spiral horns. Sunday was 

 blank, and, as the beasts appeared to have shifted, 

 we decided to move camp. 



A started off at dawn next morning, leaving 



instructions that the caravan was to move to Basili, 

 a distance of not more than six miles or so. As 

 luck would have it he saw a fine bull kudu and 

 knocked him over ; the beast got up before he had 



time to fire a second shot and galloped off. A 



followed the plentiful blood spoor till past noon, 

 when it failed and he never saw him again. What 

 had happened to the kudu we could never make 

 out. The blood spoor was evidence to the fact that 

 the wound had been a serious one, and he could 

 hardly have survived it long; nevertheless, ''Black 

 Hat," who was left behind to look for the beast, and 

 promised a liberal reward if he should find him, 

 failed to do so, though he remained away twenty- 

 four hours, and was assisted, according to his story, 

 by a number of men from the village anxious for 



47 



