THE GUASO NYERO 341 



Kermit shot many other animals, among them three 

 fine oryx, one of which he rode down on horseback, ma- 

 noeuvring so that at last it galloped fairly closely across his 

 front, whereupon he leaped off his horse for the shot; an 

 ardwolf (a miniature hyena with very weak teeth) which 

 bolted from its hole at his approach; gerenuk, small ante- 

 lope with necks relatively as long as giraffes', which are 

 exceedingly shy and difficult to obtain; and the Grevy's 

 zebra, as big as a small horse. Most of his hunting was 

 done alone, either on foot or on horseback; on a long run 

 or all-day tramp no other member of our outfit, black or 

 white, could quite keep up with him. He and Tarlton 

 found where a leopard had killed and partly eaten a nearly 

 full-grown individual of this big zebra. He also shot a 

 twelve-foot crocodile. The ugly, formidable brute had in its 

 belly sticks, stones, the claws of a cheetah, the hoofs of an 

 impalla, and the big bones of an eland, together with the 

 shell plates of one of the large river-turtles; evidently it took 

 toll indifferently from among its fellow-denizens of the river, 

 and from among the creatures that came to drink, whether 

 beasts of pasture or the flesh-eaters that preyed upon them. 



He also shot three buffalo bulls, Tarlton helping him to 

 finish them off, for they are tough animals, tenacious of 

 life and among the most dangerous of African game. One 

 turned to charge, but was disabled by the bullets of both 

 of them before he could come on. Tarlton, whose experi- 

 ence in the hunting field against dangerous game had been 

 large, always maintained that, although lion hunting was 

 the most dangerous sport, because a hunted lion was far 

 more apt to charge than any other animal, yet when a 

 buffalo bull did charge he was more dangerous than a lion, 

 because harder to kill or turn. Where zebra and other 

 game are abundant, as on the Athi Plains, lion do not med- 

 dle with such formidable quarry as buffalo; on Heatley's 

 farm lions sometimes made their lairs in the same papyrus 

 swamp with the buffalo, but hardly ever molested them. 

 In many places, however, the lion preys largely, and in some 



