88 SAVAGE SUDAN 



seen us for a couple of hours, halted unsuspicious, strung 

 out in a long string. Adjusted sights to 275 yards and 

 had the supreme satisfaction, on firing, to see the selected 

 bull drop vertically from the field of the object-glass. 

 The ball had penetrated both shoulder-blades and he fell 

 as though struck by a thunderbolt. His horns taped a 

 trifle under 19 inches identical with those of two others 

 previously shot and, judging from my recollection of topi 

 in British East Africa, I (quite erroneously) reckoned I 

 possessed three quite good tiang heads. 1 



A curious incident deserves mention. My companion, 

 Lowe, lay crouched at my elbow and we had both heard 

 the bullet "tell"; we both, moreover, saw the animal 

 immediately in front, of my selected mark bound high in 



air and make off. L (who, of course, could not see at 



which of the group I had aimed) remarked : " You've hit 

 him, but I fear not on the right place." Having, however, 

 myself seen through the object-glass the instant fall of my 

 selected tiang, I was able to reassure him ; and, on our 

 standing up, we descried the dark red object right enough, 

 lying stone-dead in the grass. 



(n) AN OFT-OBSTRUCTED STALK 



An hour's walk had brought us within sight of a troop 

 of tiang grazing in open forest. These woods swarm 

 with oribi which, by bounding forward, oft convey alarm 

 to finer game. Reedbuck also, on occasion, do similar 

 disservice. This morning we avoided such mischance 

 and presently had the tttel at 150 yards. There were 

 several grand heads among them, but so thickly did they 

 cluster that I refused the shot. Slowly they grazed 

 across an open glade and entered the thin forest beyond. 

 Following their course, we espied among the fringing 

 trees the massive forms of two great roan antelope inter- 



1 Topi heads average little more than 15 or 16 inches, while tiang 

 average fully 20 inches, and I subsequently secured tiang trophies very 

 largely exceeding that measurement. 



