HUNTING IN THE SOTIK 205 



yards, prancing, flourishing his tail, tossing his head and 

 uttering his grunting bellow; it almost seemed as if he knew 

 I would not shoot at him, or as if for the moment he had 

 been infected with the absurd lameness which the giraffe 

 showed. 



There were seven giraffes, a medium-sized bull, four 

 cows, and two young ones; and, funnily enough, the young 

 ones were by far the shyest and most suspicious. I did 

 not want to kill a bull unless it was exceptionally large; 

 whereas I did want two cows and a young one, for the 

 museum. When quarter of a mile away I dismounted, 

 threw the reins over Tranquillity's head whereat the good 

 placid old fellow at once began grazing and walked di- 

 agonally toward the biggest cow, which was ahead of the 

 others. The tall, handsome, ungainly creatures were noth- 

 ing like as shy as the smaller game had shown themselves 

 that morning, and of course they offered such big targets 

 that three hundred yards was a fair range for them. At 

 two hundred and sixty yards I fired at the big cow as she 

 stood almost facing me, twisting and curling her tail. The 

 bullet struck fair and she was off at a hurried, clumsy 

 gallop. I gave her another bullet, but it was not neces- 

 sary, and down she went. The second cow, a fine young 

 heifer, was now cantering across my front, and with two 

 more shots I got her; the sharp-pointed bullets penetrating 

 well, and not splitting into fragments, but seeming to cause 

 a .rending shock. 



I met with much more difficulty in trying to kill the 

 young one I needed. I walked and trotted a mile after the 

 herd. The old ones showed little alarm, standing again 

 and again to look at me. Finally I shot one of the two young 

 ones, at four hundred and ten long paces, while a cow stood 

 much nearer, and the bull only three hundred yards off. 

 But this was not all. The four survivors did not leave even 

 after such an experience, but stayed in the plain, not far 

 off, for several hours, and thereby gave Kermit a chance 

 to do something much better worth while than shooting 



