SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 219 



as no traces of it could be found. I shot a good 

 dog, which was attacked almost immediately by 

 one of the others. I had a shot at the assailant, 

 but both dogs were in high grass and I missed. 

 Both dogs then bolted, and I followed up the 

 wounded one, which was badly crippled, and 

 finished it off. 



I shot two wildebeest bulls in the country near 

 the Tana river, one of which had a very fine head. 

 These animals reside in the open plains, and, except 

 in large private estates, where the animals are 

 preserved, the herds have been often fired at and 

 are not easily approached. It is not easy, there- 

 fore, to bag a wildebeest, outside of a reserve, by 

 fair stalking. 



The first bull I killed had not a very good head, 

 but the shot with which I killed him was, for me 

 at any rate, an exceptionally fine one. The bull 

 had attached himself to a herd of hartebeest, and 

 I had tried unsuccessfully to get a shot ; but the 

 herd was wary, and the animals disappeared in 

 the distance. They evidently, however, ran into 

 something which frightened them more than I had 

 done, as before long they came tearing back at a 

 gallop, and passed me at about 150 yards' distance, 

 with the wildebeest bull bringing up the rear. 

 They crossed me from left to right, which is the 

 shot I most fancy, and with the right barrel of 

 the '450 I made a bull's-eye, shooting the wilde- 

 beest as he was galloping at his best speed through 

 the heart. He galloped on, and I missed him 

 with the left barrel ; but, after going for some 

 distance, he collapsed in a cloud of dust, quite 

 dead. 



