Sporting Trips of a Subaltern 



We spent several days among the herds; I only 

 shot with the rifle very occasionally, but spent 

 hours watching them and shooting with a camera. 

 I believe I got some most interesting pictures 

 with the latter, but having several days to wait 

 for a ship at Aden on my return, I became im- 

 patient to see the results, and gave them to a 

 local photographer to develop. They were only 

 films, and the great heat, a somewhat common 

 complaint at Aden, caused them to turn out 

 failures with the exception of a very few. The 

 herds used to graze across the open in an extended 

 line, and I often rode round till a mile or two 

 ahead of the line, sent away my pony, and lay in 

 grass till they were actually all round me. I, of 

 course, never took such a mean advantage as to 

 shoot any by this means excepting once, when 

 two fine sig bulls began fighting vigorously within 

 a few yards of me, when I dropped the biggest to 

 stop him bullying. 



One afternoon I got up to an enormous herd ; 

 of two bulls I couldn't make up my mind which 

 I wanted, so I waited till they were fairly close 

 together and then shot one, hitting him hard as 

 I thought, so I gave the second barrel to number 

 two, dropping him dead. Number one had now 

 rejoined the herd, when a third bull dashed at 

 him and bowled him over; he got up again, but 

 by this time was so surrounded by does that I 



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