THE -450 EXPRESS. 79 



wandering about for an hour or two, but seeing nothing worth having, 

 and believing all were infested with the maggot plague, I gave the man 

 my rifle and we turned towards our starting point. As we came out of 

 the jungle I was some way ahead, and just cast my eye over the young 

 green corn that grew close up to its edge. Right out in it, some 300 

 yards away, were three small ostriches stalking about. "By Jove, 

 bustard ! that's what those are ! " flashed through my mind. I had 

 never seen one before, nor heard of their being within forty miles of the 

 station. " I wish I could get a shot " followed the first thought, and then 

 I disappeared behind one of the last bushes, and warned my man to make 

 a detour and bring me the rifle. When he reached me he was not aware 

 of what they were hardly, so it was evident they were not regular 

 visitants. They were slowly stalking away from me, quite out of shot, 

 but, as my eye roamed around for any cover to make a stalk behind, 

 two separate little bushes caught my eye on an old boundary-line between 

 the patch of corn the birds were on and the one next it. They were small 

 but thick, and the sandy soil had drifted up to the boundary-line, raising 

 it some 2ft. above the level of the plain. The corn itself was too short to 

 give any cover for a stalk, and a stern chase is always a long one, but it 

 looked possible I might reach the bushes for a shot at a new kind of 

 target. 



To deceive the birds, we moved away from our bush straight for home, 

 if I may apply that term to syce and pony on the side of a villainous 

 unmade road, under a solitary tree. I left my man behind the last bush, 

 and then held on until those I had spotted on the boundary came between 

 me and the game. Down I dropped on the knee, and did not take very 

 long to cross the corn to the bigger bush, but I could not fire through it, 

 owing to its thickness. There were three big things slowly striding ahead, 

 so there was no time to lose ; they were over 100 yards away. I worked 

 round to the left of the bush, trying to fire off my stomach ; it was useless ; 

 the corn quite hid them when my chin was on mother earth. I then 

 worked back to the right of my cover, and got slowly on the knee ; they 

 were then some distance further on, but I chose the biggest, and drew the 

 bead at where the points of his wings or shoulders would be. The usual 

 smart crack of 4| drs. of powder, and two huge birds rose from the plain; 

 away they went, but number three I could not see. I was rather startled, 

 as I thought he was so large that, lying dead, he would show plainly on 

 the corn ; I went forward to investigate, and found him, the corn being 

 just above his carcase ; the bullet had gone through the points of both 

 wings, smashing them, but only leaving a round hole through them, and 

 his chest ; he was stone dead, and I was truly delighted. I paced the 

 distance, and found it 147 yards. We soon reached the road, and next 

 morning I had a deputation wait on me to inspect this rara avis ; few of 

 them had ever seen the great bustard, and none had shot him. We dined 

 off him subsequently at mess, and voted him excellent eating, while his 

 feathers still supply me materials for a particular trout fly I am very 



