A LONG CIRCUIT 319 



I had fancied I had heard the thud of the shot, and had 

 certainly seen the splash of the bullet beyond the ram ; 

 but I knew the splash in the ground would be the same, 

 whether the missile had gone through or missed clean, 

 and the thud was so slight that, until I saw the animal 

 stay behind his fellows, I could not be sure I had hit. I 

 may note that this was the first occasion on which I had 

 ever heard the sound of a .303 bullet striking an animal. 

 I waited where I was till the ram disappeared over the 

 next ridge, and then followed. We came on blood 

 almost immediately, but could not pursue, as doing so 

 would have involved frightening the antelope, which 

 were in the nala just beyond the crest over which the 

 rams had gone. 



When we got to the ridge we had the satisfaction 

 of seeing the antelope all lying down, evidently quite 

 undisturbed by the shot which had been fired within 

 600 yards of them. This was the more surprising 

 as no wind had yet arisen, it not being more than 

 8 A.M. The question then was, how to get at the ante- 

 lope in the nala. There were five of them> two fair 

 bucks and three does. It was evident we could not go 

 down the hillside in front, nor could we go up that to 

 the right, as there was no way of crossing the nala 

 unseen. The ram we proposed to leave till afterwards, 

 as I knew he could not go far, with that bullet through 

 the middle of his body. 



The only thing to be done evidently was, to descend 

 into the plain and make a wide circuit and get into the 

 nala on the far side, on which the antelope were sitting. 

 This we accordingly did, riding the ponies side by 



