176 LARGE GAME. chap. hi. 



herd swerved when I fired, and the bull kept straight on, 

 I was in time to ride in between them and cut him off. 

 The inconvenience arising from my horse refusing to allow 

 me to remount him when I got off to fire made me wish 

 to either ride the eland to a stand-still, or get alongside 

 before I gave him another shot ; but the old fellow, 

 although his laborious breathing said plainly enough that 

 he would not keep it up long, was going at a slashing 

 trot, seemingly in no wise inconvenienced by the numerous 

 stones that hampered my animal so much, nor any the 

 worse for my bullet, and it was some considerable time 

 before I overhauled him ; but at last, wheeling half round 

 to enable me to fire with the greater certainty, I put 

 another ball into his short ribs. The smoke in my face 

 and the tremendous shy my horse gave prevented my 

 seeing what was going to happen, and it was not until 

 the brute came down with a crash under me, hurling me 

 actually against the eland's body, that I understood that 

 an accidental collision had occurred, for an eland never 

 charges. Luckily, on picking myself up I found that 

 neither I nor my rifle were much the worse, and on seeing 

 that the eland was standing within thirty yards, I at 

 once reloaded. He was evidently sorely distressed, open- 

 mouthed and tongue protruding, and with heaving flanks 

 that told of the difficulty the lungs had in performing 

 their office, and which proved to me that there might be 

 some foundation in fact for the stories I had heard of fat 

 old bulls, like this one, dropping dead without a scratch, 

 merely from over-running. 



My next shot finished him, and after he had rolled 

 over, or rather subsided, for his short legs hardly raised 



