Sporting Trips of a Subaltern 



generally waterless country we were about to 

 enter. 



In two more days we were in comparatively 

 open country interspersed with clumps of thorn 

 bush, and here aoul, wart-hog, gerenuk, and 

 Spekes gazelle were plentiful. We had now done 

 about eighty miles from the coast, and pitched 

 our camp for a couple of days, making, as from 

 now on was always necessary, a high zeriba of 

 thorn bushes round the tents, and the ground in 

 front whereon our camels were driven to sleep 

 at night. We dug holes and filled them with 

 waterproof sheets to catch the rain, so as to keep 

 our water-casks full. We did not over-exert our- 

 selves, as there was no very important game 

 about, and, saving our ponies mostly for harder 

 work later on, we strolled about, trying to get 

 some good specimens of the gazelles we came 

 across. My first afternoon I saw some gerenuk, 

 and a careful stalk brought me within 100 yards 

 of them. The only buck appeared to be a 

 youngster, so I contented myself with watching 

 them, and a very pretty sight they were, rufus 

 red in colour with white, pure white, bellies, and 

 shaped just like miniature giraffes. They were 

 standing under bushes, stretching their long necks 

 up to reach tempting morsels on the higher 

 branches. I tried to see how close I could get, 

 and was, I suppose, only some fifty yards from 



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