214 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



We sent a porter to bring out Heller, and an ox wagon 

 on which to take the skin to camp. While waiting for them 

 I killed a topi bull, at two hundred and sixty yards, with one 

 bullet, and a wildebeest bull with a dozen; I crippled him 

 with my first shot at three hundred and sixty yards, and 

 then walked and trotted after him a couple of miles, getting 

 running and standing shots at from three hundred to five 

 hundred yards. I hit him several times. As with every- 

 thing else I shot, the topi and wildebeest were preserved 

 as specimens for the museum, and their flesh used for food. 

 Our porters had much to do, and they did it well, partly 

 because they were fed well. We killed no game of which we 

 did not make the fullest use. It would be hard to convey to 

 those who have not seen it on the ground an accurate idea of 

 its abundance. When I was walking up to this rhino there 

 were in sight two giraffes, several wildebeest bulls, and herds 

 of hartebeest, topi, zebra, and the big and little gazelles. 



In addition to being a mighty hunter, and an adept in 

 the by no means easy work of handling a large safari in 

 the wilderness, Cuninghame was also a good field naturalist 

 and taxidermist; and at this camp we got so many speci- 

 mens that he was obliged to spend most of his time helping 

 Heller; and they pressed into the work at times even Tarl- 

 ton. Accordingly Kermit and I generally went off by our- 

 selves, either together or separately. Once, however, Kermit 

 went with Tarlton, and was as usual lucky with cheetahs, 

 killing two. Tarlton was an accomplished elephant, buf- 

 falo, and rhino hunter, but he preferred the chase of the lion 

 to all other kinds of sport; and if lions were not to be found 

 he liked to follow anything else he could gallop on horse- 

 back. Kermit was also a good and hard rider. On this 

 occasion they found a herd of eland, and galloped into it. 

 The big bull they overhauled at once, but saw that his 

 horns were poor and left him. Then they followed a fine 

 cow with an unusually good head. She started at a rattling 

 pace, and once leaped clear over another cow that got in 

 her way; but they rode into her after a mile's smart gallop 



