ON 'I'lii-: Ki.M oi' rill'. i>i;si-:i;'r 157 



1)0 nioviiiu' wiili umieccssary (lelil)crali()ii. I'm. IVdiii 

 :i1>ovi'. till' uroiiml looked iic,irl\- (hit. In reality it was 

 rather steep, ami so coNcrrcl willi iiii>ialilc rocks ihai we 

 had to lake extreme ])recaul ions noi lo set tliciii I'olliiiL;. 

 At li'iiuili we were sefii to reach the lit lie ln'okeii lidu'c we 

 liad urcviouslx' noted. 1 cdeed niNsell' loi-wards on ni\' 

 {d1)(')ws. an<l laid the ritli' for the shot, hut no report 

 lollowed. Had the eartritliies heeii rorL:()tt(^n ? An 

 aiionisinu' idea ! The fact was that the distanee, fore- 

 shortened to them, was too oTcat for a certainty, and 

 I waited for the beasts to feed into the next ra\ine. 

 This they presently did, and we. the stalkers, cr('[)t 

 forward to a mound from whi(di we hoped to see them 

 reajtpear. Here we waitetl m su.spense, and at length 

 turned an iiii[uii'inu- telescope upon our com])anions. 

 Tlun- were sio-nallino- that the animals had <>one no ihe 

 ravine. They had seen one do so, but the others really 

 remained opposite to us. The mistake nearly cost us 

 dear. Hur steps on tlie loose rocks were heard. We s;iw 

 three bounding forms, but the gazelles had he;iid and not 

 seen us. and paused on the other side long enough to gi\e 

 me the desired ehanee. 1 thouuhl 1 was steadv, but lo m\' 

 disgust T heard the Ijullet (dink on the stones. 



There was a vision ot" \'ellow bodies rushing through a 

 maze of yellow rocks, and my second shot went anywhere. 

 They had run a hundred yards, when one. lagged, and 

 Celestin said, "" AFais il est bieii louche!" The next 

 moment his heels were in the ;iir. ;ind ;i " whoop " wcni up 

 to those on the ti>]i. to be answereil b\- n -iniil.ir p;>',in from 

 them. \\ hen 1 e.\amined m\' beast and found that it was 

 a fine i»uek cdiiu, "scarce and little known." as an able 



