364 SAVAGE SUDAN 



stone-dead where he stood and never a kick. I sketched 

 him as he fell. 



It was an afternoon of surprises and, at the shot, 

 yet another surprise ensued. The main body of ariel 

 then half behind us would, one might naturally 

 expect, have taken a direct flight over the ridge in 

 their rear ; but no ! they deliberately selected a line of 

 retreat across the open strath whereon we sat thus 

 passing us diagonally, in single file, and not over 100 

 yards distant. 



When that spectral buck fell (my second that after- 

 noon), I had remarked to Lowe, "that closes our account 

 with ariel " ; but this new temptation proved too strong. 

 As one handsome head after another slowly nodded past 

 us, I selected the best and fired wrong, I admit ; but 

 Nemesis stood at my elbow and a bad shot resulted 

 too far back. The crippled ariel sought escape in a deep 

 and rugged ravine that led up into higher hills beyond. 

 But the pursuit had one delightful sequel ; for it brought 

 us face to face with four ibex, a ram and three does 

 grazing on the terraces of a big black jebel some 500 

 yards away. The necessity of firing a final shot to retrieve 

 our crippled ariel precluded any chance with the ibex 

 which otherwise might have been stalked. 



The incident brings into vivid perspective the rugged 

 nature of the ground into which ariel penetrate. 



The three ariel bucks shot this evening all carried 

 good heads beyond the average hereabouts ; yet none 

 of them much exceeded 14 inches. 



One word in conclusion on the ethics of the African 

 hunter of to-day. No longer, as a rule, does he permit 

 himself to stalk, or to kill, merely for the gratification of 

 so doing. The spirit of the Shikar Club interpreting 

 modern reason and commonsense breathes loftier senti- 

 ments. In the back- veld, the sacrifice of a head or two 

 of game is necessary, on occasion, to feed a camp or 

 safari ; otherwise, ambition in the modern rifleman in 



