372 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



had had a good rest, my heart had ceased to beat wildly and 

 my hand was steady, so squeezing the trigger gradually and 

 firmly, the report of the rifle was followed by the loud smack 

 which tells an old hand all he wants to know. Not wasting a 

 look on the big one, I shifted the sights on to one of the others 

 and fired just as he bounded off. Another smack told that 

 that bullet/too, had found its billet, but the beast made off with 

 its companions. On dashing frantically down the hill and up 

 the other side of a small ravine, I saw one Poli standing and 

 looking about him two hundred and fifty yards off. Lying down 

 I tried to take a careful aim, but I found the rifle was pointing 

 ten feet over his back one second and the next twenty feet below 

 him. This was no good, so I lay quiet in the hope that he 

 might be so unsophisticated as to stay there until my poor 

 panting frame recovered its steadiness ; but alas ! in a few 

 seconds he was off. 



However, I was satisfied that he was unhurt, and the 

 wounded one probably lay between us and him, so that I at 

 once took up the search for the beast, the man on the hill 

 coming in now very handily, directing us by a prearranged code 

 of signals. 



Presently this man (Dewanna) got very excited and kept 

 signalling ' below, below.' As we were then at the bottom of 

 the valley we were at a loss to know how to go any lower, 

 when out from behind a large boulder came the Poli, very 

 sick indeed ; but to make sure I gave him another barrel and 

 rushed up to gloat over my latest prize, measuring 59 ins. 

 along the left and 58^ ins. along the right horn. 



I then started up hill back to where the first one lay. On 

 getting up to him I was rather disappointed, as I had thought 

 that he was bigger than his comrade, and I pulled out the 

 tape and began to measure: 'sixty, sixty-one, two, two and a half 

 thank goodness, at last I had got a trophy that would hold 

 its own in any company, and one that will still be a comfort, a 

 joy, and a thing of beauty when old Time has so stiffened my 



