xvin ADVENTURE WITH A CROCODILE 237 



again I went out in the afternoon when camp had 

 been pitched and everything set in order. 



I made various attempts to stalk a gerenuk, 

 but failed time after time, so much so that I was 

 thoroughly exasperated with my bad fortune. They 

 are very shy indeed, more especially the males, and 

 I found it very difficult to get one. It appears that 

 the Wandorobo hunt this gazelle with great zeal, as 

 they prize its tender and delicious meat very highly. 

 For this reason, probably, they were very timid and 

 hard to approach. However, I was determined to 

 get a specimen if possible, so spent several hot 

 afternoons scrambling among the bushes studying 

 their ways. I generally found that they travelled in 

 a circle when attacked. 



One day, when I was out alone, I came across a 

 beauty, with what I should think were record horns, 

 standing on his hind legs with his fore-feet resting 

 against a tree trunk, and his long neck craned up to 

 the branches, eating away contentedly at the tender 

 leaves and green shoots. "Now is my chance," I 

 said to myself; so, making my gun-bearer lie down, 

 and telling him on no account to move, I began a 

 long stalk. Soon after I started, a dip in the ground 

 took me into cover, and then I dodged from bush to 

 bush, and from tree to tree, gradually getting nearer 

 to the still feeding gazelle. 



No luck was in store for me, however, as I had 



