224 THE BONDS OF AFRICA 



It is a curious contradiction of desire and 

 thought that fills the breast of the big-game 

 hunter — unless he be built of stone and adamant — 

 after such an incident as this. The lust of 

 killing is only satiated by the falling crash of 

 some truly magnificent and ponderous quadruped, 

 and then there inevitably comes a wave of pity 

 and regret. Yet ten minutes afterwards, when 

 I espied two fine Grant's, their graceful heads 

 raised in suspicion and the spread of their horns 

 standing clear and distinct against the sky-line, 

 there returned this demon of slaughter. To cut 

 a long and uninteresting story of stalks and shots 

 short, I at last secured both of these. Another 

 fine wildebeeste bull also fell to my rifle that 

 morning, and I returned to camp a butcher 

 unashamed of his butchery. 



