228 THE BONDS OF AFRICA 



beeste before returning to camp. That day, too, 

 I had a long and wearying chase after a topi — 

 the East African cousin of the tsessebe or 

 " bastard hartebeeste " of the Boers. I had 

 three years before, when hunting on the Man 

 escarpment, added a pair of topi horns to my 

 collection. Otherwise I should have been sorely 

 disappointed, for although my first shot told 

 and the topi turned a complete somersault, I 

 failed to come within range of the animal again. 



Time and time again after a long and wearying 

 snake-like crawl up to a little ant-heap, I would 

 just be congratulating myself on being at last 

 well-nigh able to take a long shot, when off would 

 gallop the tantalizing beast into the heat haze 

 that forever sheathes the Loita. Topi are indeed 

 speedy animals, and their capacity for carrying 

 an extraordinary amount of lead into safety is 

 as remarkable as is their ability to outdistance 

 the fastest shooting pony that ever looked through 

 a bridle. 



At length, after having secured all the specimens 

 we desired and that were procurable on the dreary 

 expanse of the Loita, we set our faces to the 

 North again, bent on shooting the rare colobus 

 monkey in Kijabe mountain before returning 

 to Nairobi. The oxen after their rest at the 

 water-hole responded readily to the shouts of the 

 little Masai driver, and strained at their yokes 

 on the homeward path with something almost 

 akin to merriment. 



In a couple of hours we had crossed the sluggish 

 Guaso Nyiro and had said good-bye to the lonely 

 young storekeeper who lived his solitary life 

 of commerce in this dry and fly-cursed land. At 

 eventide we had reached the Ongorra Narok, 

 and by the next noon the Maji Mowa had been 



