266 AFRICAN NATURE NOTES CHAP. 



the former instance I have described, effectually hid 

 the long-horned antelopes from my view. In fact, 

 it was quite impossible to shoot a gemsbuck without 

 passing the zebras. This I set myself to do, and 

 before long I was galloping alongside of the hind- 

 most animals, keeping above the wind so as to 

 escape the dust they raised as much as possible. 



In another few moments I think I should have 

 fairly galloped past all the zebras, but they did not 

 wait for me to do so, for suddenly the whole troop 

 of them swerved off down wind and left me alone 

 with the gemsbucks. These latter were all cows, 

 and most of them carried ^ood heads, but the horns 



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of one seemed specially long and thin, and these I 

 determined to secure. For some time, however, 

 she kept well in front, and I could not get a chance 

 of a shot at her, as she was always covered by one 

 or other of her companions. When I passed the 

 zebras, the gemsbucks were, I believe, going at their 

 utmost speed, and I had kept them at it for another 

 half-mile or so, when suddenly one of them swerved 

 out from the rest, and facing round, came to a halt. 

 I passed within ten yards of her, and she stood 

 looking at me as I passed, and as she remained in 

 the same place for some time, I think I may fairly 

 say that she was ridden to a standstill. She 

 appeared to be a fine full-grown cow, and was 

 probably in calf; but as it would have been at least 

 six months before she would have dropped her calf, 

 this could hardly have affected her running powers. 

 This is the second gemsbuck I have overtaken on 

 horseback, the first having been a bull (with only- 

 one horn) which I fairly rode to a standstill in 1879. 

 At last I got a good chance at the long-horned 

 cow as she swerved off to one side in the van of the 

 herd, and my bullet, hitting- her at the back of the 

 ribs, and ranging forwards to the neighbourhood of 

 the heart, brought her to the crround dead before 



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