2l6 



UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN 



strous big fellow, was the last to leave the field which they were 

 plundering not a hundred yards from my tent. I aimed at the big 

 rascal, with his hands full of stolen corn-heads. I gave him a 

 Martini bullet. He threw up his hands and fell backwards, 

 exactly as I remember seeing a man do who was shot through 

 the chest in battle. The baboon picked himself up and crawled 

 towards the sheltering jungle, again exactly like the wounded 



COLOBUS MONKEYS. 



man did, who was thus vividly recalled to my mind. 1 had no 

 chance of firing another shot, as a crowd of natives rushed 

 towards the wounded animal ; but the moment it had got into 

 the long grass of the jungle, not a native had the courage to 

 follow. 



The heavy blood-spoor proved that the fierce brute must be 

 in extremis ; I therefore went in pursuit. My own men accom- 

 panied me, and thereupon some natives, thus encouraged, joined 

 us too. The thorny, impenetrable nature of the jungle delayed 



