310 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP, 
the long grass. All of a sudden one popped up its 
head unexpectedly about fifty yardsaway. One of 
my companions immediately levelled his rifle at it, 
but from where I was I could see better than 
he that the head was a poor one, and so called 
out to him not to fire. The warning came too 
late, however, for at that moment he pulled the 
trigger. It was rather a difficult shot, too, as the 
body of the animal could not be seen very well owing 
to the height of the grass; still, as the head 
instantly disappeared we hoped for the best and ran 
up to the place, but no trace of the eland could be 
found. Accordingly we pushed on again and aftera 
little rested for a short time under the shade of some 
trees. We had gone about three miles after 
resuming our search for game, when one of the 
porters remembered that he had left the water-bottle 
he was carrying at the trees where we had halted, so 
he was sent back for it with strict injunctions to 
make haste and to rejoin us as quickly as possible. 
Curiously enough, this trifling incident proved quite 
providential; for the porter (whose name was 
Sabaki), after recovering the water-bottle, found 
himself unable to trace us through the jungle and 
accordingly struck home for camp. On his way 
back he actually stumbled over the dead body of the 
eland which I had shot the previous day and which 
the search party I had sent out in the morning had 
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