154 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



regret to add, to wounding another hartebeest. The four 

 hartebeest and zebra lay within a space of a quarter of a 

 mile; and half a mile further I bagged a tommy at two 

 hundred yards his meat was for our own table, the kon- 

 goni and the zebra being for the safari. 



On another day, when Heatley and I were out together, 

 he stationed me among some thin thorn-bushes on a little 

 knoll, and drove the game by me, hoping to get me a shot 

 at some wildebeest. The scattered thorn-bushes were only 

 four or five feet high, and so thin that there was no diffi- 

 culty in looking through them and marking every move- 

 ment of the game as it approached. The wildebeest took 

 the wrong direction and never came near me though they 

 certainly fared as badly as if they had done so, for they 

 passed by Kermit, and it was on this occasion that he 

 killed the big bull. A fine cock ostrich passed me and I 

 much wished to shoot at him, but did not like to do so, 

 because ostrich-farming is one of the staple industries of 

 the region, and it is not well to have even the wild birds 

 shot. The kongoni and the zebra streamed by me, herd 

 after herd, hundreds and hundreds of them, many passing 

 within fifty yards of my shelter, now on one side, now on 

 the other; they went at an easy lope, and I was interested 

 to see that many of the kongoni ran with their mouths 

 open. This is an attitude which we usually associate with 

 exhaustion, but such cannot have been the case with the 

 kongoni they had merely cantered for a mile or so. The 

 zebra were, as usual, noisy, a number of them uttering 

 their barking neigh as they passed. I do not know how it 

 is ordinarily, but these particular zebra, all stallions by the 

 way, kept their mouths open throughout the time they were 

 neighing, and their ears pricked forward; they did not 

 keep their mouths open while merely galloping, as did the 

 kongoni. We had plenty of meat, and the naturalists had 

 enough specimens; and I was glad that there was no need 

 to harm the beautiful creatures. They passed so close 

 that I could mark every slight movement, and the ripple of 



