158 THE GAME OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



However, let us continue the stroll. Presently you hear a twig crack, and 

 instantly standing quite still, you see a female impala pass behind a thinly-leafed 

 bush, and on out of sight. You crawl nearer on hands and knees, and when about 

 forty yards distant from the bush another female comes into view. Waiting breath- 

 lessly until it is out of sight, you then slowly and silently assume a sitting posture. 

 To right and left you can hear others grazing, and then another one passes ; it also is 

 a female. Closely following her is an immature male, and behind him comes another 

 male grazing, head downwards, and only his back is visible. Presently, however, he 

 raises his head and shows a fine pair of horns ; but immediately lowers again to 

 resume grazing. That rhino tongue is not very nice, and here is a chance to obtain 

 fresh meat and a good pair of horns into the bargain. It seems to be hours before 

 he moves, and he is so close you feel afraid that he will hear you breathing. At last 

 he moves forward a step, and a shot at the lungs offers. You fire, and he darts off, 

 and the herd also breaks away. 



Has a branch deflected the bullet, or what has happened ? The shot was too 

 near for you to hear the bullet strike. You now move round to the spot on which 

 the animal stood, and see the deep impress of his hoofs where he leapt away. There 

 is another beyond, and then another, but after that it gets mixed up with the tracks 

 of the herd. You see a wall of bush to the right, and notice that one of the animals 

 has leapt this ; looking closer, you find a drop of blood on a leaf, and on pushing 

 through see a large clot of frothy blood, showing that he is hit through the lungs 

 after all. A few yards farther on you find him lying stone-dead, and, what is better, 

 see you have not been deceived about his horns ; they are a fine pair, measuring 

 thirty inches. You cut him up with the assistance of one native who has 

 followed you. More natives you could not take with you, for a single native is the 

 greatest number whom you can safely trust not to talk together. 



Your native disembowels the animal, and cuts out the kidneys for your morning's 

 breakfast. The quarters are then cut off, some bark is stripped from a neighbouring 

 tree, and the legs are tied together for transit. The head also is taken, whilst the rest 

 of the meat is put up in the fork of a tree to be brought in later. The spot chosen 

 for this reserve meat larder must be at some distance from the remains left on the 

 ground, and the meat should be covered over with branches, so that it may escape 

 the observation of vultures. You then set off back to camp, well pleased with the 

 day's doings. 



Now, in one of the little inlets of plain running into the bush you have noticed 

 fresh bushbuck spoor upon several occasions, but early morning visits to the spot 

 have not enabled you to see one of these animals ; so the next day, after spending 



