xiv A LAST EFFORT 259 



these antelopes, fired. My shot, as it turned out, 

 struck him exactly right, an inch or so above the 

 root of the tail, and must have broken or injured 

 the vertebral column, as his hind-quarters gave way 

 at once, bringing the doomed animal into a sitting 

 position, from which he was unable to recover 

 himself. My after-rider, a light-weight Griqua lad, 

 was now close up behind me, so shouting to him to 

 despatch the bull (whose head I wanted for my own 

 collection), I galloped on after the cows, the best of 

 which I wished to secure for our National Museum 

 of Natural History, for which I had already got a 

 good bull. 



They had now, however, got a long start, and 

 as the chase soon led me across a succession of 

 broad sandy ridges entirely free from all vegetation 

 but a little coarse grass, the going became terribly 

 heavy, and I began to think I should never get 

 within shooting- distance again. At last, however, 

 the gemsbucks got out of the heavy sand and raced 

 into a broad open plain, where the ground was 

 fairly firm. They were still going strong, and were 

 some three hundred yards ahead of me. I now 

 made what I knew would have to be my last effort, 

 and gradually drew nearer and nearer to the hind- 

 most antelope, until at length I was not more than 

 1 20 yards behind it. Just then the leading 

 gemsbuck swerved somewhat to the left, and the 

 other two following in its tracks, gave me for I 

 had pulled in and jumped to the ground directly 

 I saw the leader turn a somewhat better chance 

 for a shot than had been offered as long as the 

 chase had remained exactly tail-on-end. Had I 

 missed I should have pulled in and given up the 

 hunt, as I did not want to overtire my horse ; but 

 I distinctly heard the bullet tell, and so remounted 

 and galloped on again. For the next half-mile the 

 wounded animal showed no signs of being hit, but 



