A GIRAFFE-HUNT IN THE LOLDEIGA HILLS 



awkward plunges, then stopped abruptly and again exposed 

 the same side, at which I promptly emptied the second barrel. 

 Thereupon the animal made off through the scattering trees 

 at that awkward gait which somebody has aptly compared to 

 the motions of a ship in a heavy sea. Without waiting to load 

 my rifle, I started in pursuit. It was hard to keep the depart- 

 ing animal in sight for the first half-mile, but after that I began 

 to gain slowly on it, and a few minutes later found me trotting 

 parallel to the course of the swaying giraffe at twenty yards' 

 distance. 



When I commenced to fumble in my belt for cartridges to 

 finish the chase, I made the unpleasant discovery that, while I 

 had a beltful of cartridges for the 9mm. Mauser that I had 

 been carrying at the time I sighted the game, all the cartridges 

 for the heavy rifle I now had were far behind with my gun- 

 bearer. My followers, not being provided with boots, always 

 found rapid travelling over the thorn-covered ground painful. 

 In this case they had, as usual, fallen far behind in the chase. 

 There remained nothing for me to do but follow the giraffe to 

 the end, and the two of us travelled about a mile and a half 

 over a burnt plain before it finally slowed up, spread out its 

 fore-legs, and from its g eat height gazed in an uninterested 

 manner over the parched landscape, its side streaked with 

 blood from two gaping wounds behind the shoulder. Ex- 

 hausted, dripping with perspiration, and with my head buzzing 

 from violent exertion under the noonday sun, I tried to secure 

 some relief in the scanty shade afforded by a near-by acacia. 

 When sufficiently recovered, I commenced to shout for the 

 natives, whose answering calls now became audible through the 

 trees in the distance. But before they came up the giraffe 

 swayed unsteadily, toppled, and went down with a terrific 

 crash. Both heavy bullets had struck within a few inches of 

 the same spot, about a foot back from the vitals, and death had 

 evidently resulted from internal bleeding. I dispatched one 



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