Trail and Camp-Fire 



ing so far in the interior, cannot be assisted 

 from the coast. 



Not far from this village, my shikari and I 

 fell in with a big kudu, an animal we had been 

 unfortunate in stalking before, and which is 

 the largest antelope of the country. As we 

 were skirting some low hills in thick brush, we 

 were startled by the sudden rush of an animal 

 which sprang up ahead of us, and caught a 

 glimpse of a pair of curved horns disappear- 

 ing on our left. My shikari shouted to me to 

 run to the right, and as we came out of the 

 brush, a large kudu, with wide spreading 

 horns, appeared racing along on a little hill- 

 side eighty yards away. I was too quick with 

 the first barrel, but the second brought him 

 down with a bullet in the spine. 



On our next march we came unexpectedly 

 on two leopards, in a small ravine, which at- 

 tracted our attention by their purring. I hesi- 

 tated a second too long, looking at the beau- 

 ties, and when I did fire, was obliged to shoot 

 through a small bush, and missed. Twice 

 before I lost leopards when they should have 

 been mine. Once, when I tried to exchange 

 guns with my shikari at a critical moment, 

 and again, by attempting a difficult head on 



122 



