210 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



party of Roberts' gazelles, within a hundred and fifty yards, 

 trying in vain to pick out a buck worth shooting; half an 

 hour afterward I came on another party which contained 

 such a buck, but they would not let me get within a 

 quarter of a mile. 



Wildebeest are usually the shyest of all game. Each 

 herd has its own recognized beat, to which it ordinarily 

 keeps. Near this camp, there was a herd almost always 

 to be found somewhere near the southern end of a big hill 

 two miles east of us; while a solitary bull was invariably 

 seen around the base of a small hill a couple of miles south- 

 west of us. The latter was usually in the company of a 

 mixed herd of Roberts' and Thomson's gazelles. Here, 

 as everywhere, we found the different species of game as- 

 sociating freely with one another. One little party inter- 

 ested us much. It consisted of two Roberts' bucks, two 

 Roberts' does, and one Thomson's doe, which was evi- 

 dently a mahresse femme, of strongly individualized char- 

 acter. The four big gazelles had completely surrendered 

 their judgment to that of the little tommy doe. She was the 

 acknowledged leader; when she started they started and 

 followed in whatever direction she led; when she stopped 

 they stopped; if she found a given piece of pasture good, 

 upon it they grazed contentedly. Around this camp the topi 

 were as common as hartebeest; they might be found singly, 

 or in small parties, perhaps merely of a bull, a cow, and a 

 calf; or they might be mixed with zebra, wildebeest, and 

 hartebeest. Like the hartebeest, but less frequently, they 

 would mount ant-hills to get a better look over the country. 

 The wildebeest were extraordinarily tenacious of life, and the 

 hartebeest and topi only less so. After wounded individ- 

 uals of all three kinds I more than once had sharp runs 

 on horseback. On one occasion I wounded a wildebeest 

 bull a couple of miles from camp; I was riding my zebra- 

 shaped brown pony, who galloped well; and after a sharp 

 run through the bush I overhauled the wildebeest; but 

 when I jumped off, the pony bolted for camp, and as he 



