DOWN THE NILE; THE GIANT ELAND 521 



of vigor and breeding capacity. Unfortunately, in the 

 long grass it was impossible to single out these old bucks. 

 Marking as well as we could the general direction of the 

 herd we would steal toward it until we thought we were 

 in the neighborhood, and then cautiously climb an ant- 

 hill to look about. Nothing would be in sight. We would 

 scan the ground in every direction; still nothing. Sud- 

 denly a dozen heads would pop up, just above the grass, 

 two or three hundred yards off, and after a steady gaze 

 would disappear; and some minutes later would again 

 appear a quarter of a mile farther on. Usually they skulked 

 off at a trot or canter, necks stretched level with the back; 

 for they were great skulkers, and trusted chiefly to escap- 

 ing observation and stealing away from danger unper- 

 ceived. But occasionally they would break into a gallop, 

 making lofty bounds, clear above the tops of the grass; 

 and then they might go a long way before stopping. I 

 never saw them leap on the ant-hills to look about, as is 

 the custom of the common or Uganda kob. They were 

 rather noisy; we heard them grunting continually, both 

 when they were grazing and when they saw us. 



At last, from an ant-hill, I saw dim outlines of two or 

 three animals moving past a little over a hundred yards 

 ahead. There was nothing to shoot at; but a moment 

 afterward I saw a pair of horns through the grass tops, in 

 such a position that it was evident the owner was looking 

 at me. I guessed that he had been moving in the direction 

 in which the others had gone, and I guessed at the position 

 of the shoulder, and fired. The horns disappeared. Then 

 I caught a glimpse, first of a doe, next of a buck, in full 

 flight, each occasionally appearing for an instant in a great 

 bound over the grass tops. I had no idea whether or not 

 I had hit my buck; so Cuninghame stayed on the ant- 

 heap to guide us, while Kongoni and I plunged into the 

 long grass, as high as our heads. Sure enough, there was 

 the buck, a youngish one, about four years old; my bullet 

 had -gone true. While we were looking at him we sud- 



