SPORT ON THE GUASO MARU 



shattered shoulder, and I knelt down in the grass to fire at the 

 retreating animals. As I did so a shout from one of our fol- 

 lowers caused me to look quickly over my shoulder in time to 

 see the wounded mare struggling toward me with teeth bared, 

 ears laid back, and broken leg swinging in the air as it charged. 

 I lost no time in taking several leaps to one side, and dropped 

 the zebra with a shot through the heart when it stopped after 

 failing to reach me. The Swahilis have great fear of the bite 

 of a wounded zebra, and it is the last animal they care to ap- 

 proach to finish according to the rites of the Mohammedan 

 faith. 



Fuguet continued on after a badly wounded zebra, while I 

 remained behind to superintend the skinning and cutting up. 

 Although living in the same character of thorn-bush countr\r 

 as the oryx, rhino, and giraffe, the zebra, unlike these animals, 

 which are thick-skinned as a protection, has a very thin and 

 tender hide, easily ruined by the carelessly handled knives of 

 the blacks. 



That afternoon, while I strolled through the orchard-like 

 country west of camp in search of impala, the Swahili behind 

 me clutched my sleeve and excitedly pointed into the foliage 

 of an acacia several yards ahead, whispering the Swahili word 

 for leopard — ' ' Chui. ' ' So well did the protective coloring of this 

 big cat harmonize with the light and shade among the thorny 

 branches, that I did not see it until it dropped like a yellow 

 flash into the high grass underneath the tree in which it had 

 been watching. On approaching the foot of the acacia we 

 discovered the pungent odor of carnivora and the partially 

 devoured remains of a female gerenuk. In the top branches 

 of a near-by tree we located the untouched remains of a fawn 

 neatly hung between two limbs. This was the only leopard 

 or sign of this cat that either of us saw in this country, although 

 we saw and shot several servals — a smaller but not so brilliantly 

 spotted feline. 



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