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 



