THE FIVE BUCKS 343 



and passed in front of me. I could have knocked over 

 some of them with the greatest ease, but none were 

 worth shooting. They swung round to my left, on to the 

 plain, but must have been seen by the three we were 

 after, for when we next saw our herd of bucks it was 

 close to the sky-line, on a ridge far from the nala. 



While we were watching them, much disgusted at the 

 turn events had taken, we suddenly caught sight of a 

 group of five, about half a mile away, feeding towards 

 the northern end of the ravine we were standing in. 

 The telescope showed all to be males. Directing the 

 pony-men to stay where they were at the bottom of the 

 nala, we moved up it, and after going half a mile or so, 

 went up one of the side ravines leading down into it, in 

 hopes of intercepting the herd at the top. I went ahead 

 here on my elbows and knees, and in a few minutes saw 

 the herd pass across me, but out of range. It had evi- 

 dently been startled in some way, for it was going fast. 

 I returned to the shikaris, and the three of us continued 

 our way up the main nala at a jog-trot, which was very 

 trying considering the elevation we were at. We had 

 not gone a quarter of a mile when Abdulla dropped flat 

 on his face with a sudden exclamation, and we did the 

 same. Looking up I saw the five crossing the nala 

 about 400 yards ahead of us. If we had been only 

 300 yards further on what a chance I should have had ! 



We lay still till the herd was well over, and then 

 went on, turning up the hillside to the right in the direc- 

 tion it had taken. We sighted it in a few minutes going 

 slowly up, and looking back constantly while so doing. 

 We dropped when we came in sight, and lay still for 



