138 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP. 
I thought I had better not risk moving, so I 
aimed at the shoulder and fired. The buck gave 
one leap into the air, and then turned and galloped 
quickly behind an island which completely hid. 
him from view. We waited for him to clear the 
rushes at the other end of this island, but as he 
did not appear I got impatient and plunged into 
the river, regardless of crocodiles or anything 
else. On rounding the island, however, he was 
nowhere to be seen, and had evidently turned 
off while in the shelter of the reeds and_ so 
gained the opposite bank. I was keenly dis- 
appointed at my failure, for it was impossible to 
follow him up: to do so we should have had to 
make a long detour to get across the river, and 
by that time darkness would have set in. This 
incident shows the great drawback to the 303 
—namely, that it has very little knock-down effect 
unless it strikes a vital part; and even then, in 
a bush country, an animal may manage to go 
far enough to be lost. On the other hand, an 
animal wounded with a hard bullet is likely to 
make a speedy recovery, which is a great blessing. 
Mahina was even more upset at the escape of the 
buck than I was, and as we trudged back through 
the sand to our tree, he was full of gloomy forebod- 
ings of an unlucky night. By the light of a 
splendid full moon we settled ourselves on a great 
a cen al leh eee ell 
ETS ETA A 
a 
BS cq. 
