Somali 



went I could hear a heavy animal moving in a 

 thicket to our right, and we reached the edge at 

 the same moment as a splendid oryx stepped out 

 only sixty yards from us ; another second, and out 

 stepped another. I fired at the first, and hearing 

 my bullet "tell" loudly, I turned my attention 

 to No. 2, who was racing away over the plain, 

 and with my second barrel got him right through 

 the back of the head, sending him over like a 

 rabbit. No. 1 paused for a moment at the un- 

 wonted behaviour of his companion, and reload- 

 ing I shot him again, this time through the heart, 

 breaking his shoulders as well. My first bullet 

 had got him a trifle high in the body. How a few 

 seconds change everything when big-game shoot- 

 ing ! one moment riding along wondering if I 

 should ever get an oryx, and the next having two 

 dead almost on the top of each other. Hassan 

 had just time, and only just, to dash up and cut 

 their throats before they breathed their last, other- 

 wise all the meat would have been wasted, as no 

 one adheres more strictly to the " hallal," or 

 throat-cutting, than the Somali, and any beast 

 not killed by a Mohammedan he will not touch. 

 We loaded my pony with meat, and I walked 

 home, getting back five hours only after setting 

 out. One of the oryx had a horn of 29| inches, 

 bent right down from 8 inches above the base, 

 so that it came straight across his face. I suppose 



113 i 



