in ON SAFARI 33 



him on our ponies in an endeavour to keep him in 

 view. We halted on reaching the edge of the trees, 

 and had the satisfaction of seeing the roan come to a 

 standstill in the midst of an open glade about 700 

 yards away. There was a large clump of bushes, 

 some 200 yards beyond us, which by a little 

 manoeuvring we managed to place between him 

 and ourselves. Under cover of this we made a 

 rapid advance on foot, but of course we dared not 

 expose ourselves to take a peep at him all the 

 time we were covering this distance, in case he 

 should see us. Accordingly it was with no little 

 anxiety that we spied through the branches on 

 reaching the covert, to see if our quarry had stood 

 his ground. We thought ourselves lucky when 

 we saw the magnificent creature standing there 

 watching the forest suspiciously, all unconscious 

 that he was even then being covered with a rifle. 

 A shot was fired, but unfortunately the distance was 

 underestimated and the bullet fell short, so off he 

 sped again, and as soon as our horses came up we 

 followed after him as hard as ever we could, hoping 

 for the chance of another shot. He managed how- 

 ever to make good his escape and we never saw him 

 again. Later in the day we came upon a female 

 roan which offered an exceedingly easy mark at 50 

 yards' range, but of course we had no intention of 

 interfering with her. 



