28 



ON SAFARI 



possibly neither. Elmi's impetuosity in any case lost 

 me the second. Both shots at the first had missed. I 

 was unlucky with leopards this trip. A few days later 

 I lost another good chance through the same linguistic 

 curse. There were some waterbuck on a rocky ridge. 

 Whilst stalking these, Elmi spied a leopard and explained 

 something which I did not understand, but he was keen, 

 and I followed. We reached a bare grass-opening. A 

 single thorn-tree stood in its centre, and beneath that 

 one tree lay the leopard, in shortish grass, scarce fifty 

 yards away. '•' Shoot," whispered Elmi ; adding, " In the 

 hushes, lying down." Still imagining we were after the 

 waterbuck, which I presumed had moved, I scanned 

 every bush on that ko^^pie beyond — thrice as far away 

 as lay the leopard. At last I saw, but too late. Ere I 

 got my sights the leopard jumped. I waited in hopes 

 he might stand ; and stand he did, but not till close 

 on the ridge of the koppie, 200 yards off". My ball 

 splintered the rock a hand's-breadth over his shoulder — 

 a near thing, but a miss. Had Elmi only said, " Under 

 the tree," that beast could hardly have escaped ; what 



he did say was misleading in the last 

 degree. 



Althouoh describino; this last animal 

 as a leopard, I have since satisfied 

 myself that it "uas in reality a cheetah, 

 which habitually lies out thus in the 

 open, whereas the leopard never does 

 so. It is a noteworthy circumstance 

 that the cheetah, though in general 

 appearance closely resembling a leopard, 

 and certainly allied to the Felidce, yet 

 possesses a dog-foot — that is, its claws 

 are blunt and hardly, if at all, retractile. 

 MASAI CATTLE-BELL ^ chamiing fcaturc of the shooting 



PICKED DP ON EXDEPJT. in East Afrlca is the bush-stalking. 



jNow, stalking in bush may appear 

 a simple problem, and so, no doubt, with a single animal, 

 when stationary, it sometimes is. Such chances, however. 



