DOWN THE NILE; THE GIANT ELAND 515 



the track of a herd of eland, and after a while left his gun- 

 bearers and porters, and ran along the trail accompanied 

 only by a native guide. The cow was killed at two hun- 

 dred yards with a shot from his Winchester. The bull 

 yielded more excitement. He was in a herd of about forty 

 which Kermit had followed for over five hours, toward 

 the last accompanied only by the wild native; at one point 

 the eland had come upon a small party of elephant, and 

 trotted off at right angles to their former course Kermit 

 following them after he had satisfied himself that the 

 elephants were cows and half-grown animals. When he 

 finally overtook the eland, during the torrid heat of the early 

 afternoon, they were all lying down, in a place where the 

 trees grew rather more thickly than usual. 



Stalking as close as he dared he selected a big animal 

 which he hoped was a bull, and fired three shots into it; 

 however, it ran, and he then saw that it was a cow. As 

 the rest of the herd jumped up he saw the form of the 

 master bull looming above the others. They crossed his 

 front at a slashing trot, the cows clustered round the great 

 bull; but just as they came to a little opening, they opened 

 somewhat, giving him a clear shot. Down went the bull 

 on his head, rose, received another bullet, and came to a 

 stand-still. This was the last bullet from the magazine; 

 and now the mechanism of the rifle refused to work or to 

 throw the empty shell out of the chamber. The faithful 

 Winchester, which Kermit had used steadily for ten months, 

 on foot and on horseback, which had suffered every kind 

 of hard treatment and had killed every kind of game, with- 

 out once failing, had at last given way under the strain. 

 While Kermit was working desperately at the mechanism, 

 the bull, which was standing looking at him within fifty 

 yards, gradually recovered, moved off step by step, and 

 broke into a slow trot. After it went Kermit as hard as 

 he could go, still fussing with the rifle, which he finally 

 opened, and refilled with five cartridges. Kermit could 

 just about keep the eland in sight, running as hard as he 



