THE GLTASO NYERO 357 



and horses drank their fill; and we returned to the sunny 

 plains and the endless reaches of withered, rustling grass. 



At last, an hour or two before sunset, when the heat had 

 begun a little to abate, we spied half a dozen giraffes scat- 

 tered a mile and a half ahead of us, feeding on the tops 

 of the few widely separated thorn-trees. Cuninghame and 

 I started toward them on foot, but they saw us when we 

 were a mile away, and after gazing a short while, turned 

 and went off at their usual rocking-horse canter, twisting 

 and screwing their tails. We mounted and rode after 

 them. I was on my zebra-shaped brown horse, which was 

 hardy and with a fair turn of speed, and which by this time 

 I had trained to be a good hunting horse. On the right 

 were two giraffe which eventually turned out to be a big 

 cow followed by a nearly full-grown young one; but Cun- 

 inghame, scanning them through his glasses, and misled by 

 the dark coloration, pronounced them a bull and cow; 

 and after the big one I went. By good luck we were on 

 one of the rare pieces of the country which was fitted for 

 galloping. I rode at an angle to the giraffe's line of flight, 

 thus gaining considerably; and when it finally turned and 

 went straight away I followed it at a fast run, and before it 

 was fully awake to the danger I was but a hundred yards 

 behind. We were now getting into bad country, and jump- 

 ing off I opened fire and crippled the great beast. Mount- 

 ing, I overtook it again in a quarter of a mile and killed it. 



In half an hour the skinners and porters came up one 

 of the troubles of hunting as a naturalist is that it necessi- 

 tates the presence of a long tail of men to take off and carry 

 in the big skins, in order that they may ultimately appear 

 in museums. In an hour and a half the giraffe's skin, with 

 the head and the leg bones, was slung on two poles; eight 

 porters bore it, while the others took for their own use all 

 the meat they could carry. They were in high good-humor, 

 for an abundant supply of fresh meat always means a sea- 

 son of rejoicing, and they started campward singing loudly 

 under their heavy burdens. While the giraffe was being 



