THE INDIAN ANTELOPE. \\j 



the way the best ball gun I ever saw). It was not very long before I found some Antelope 

 among some scattered mimosa bushes, near which was a large mound, under shelter of which 

 I was enabled to approach to within about a hundred and forty yards of the herd. This was 

 a very long range for a smoothbore, but the shot before I had killed a buck galloping at full 

 speed at a distance of a hundred and fifty yards, so I thought I would try my luck again. 

 Accordingly, giving what I thought would be about the proper elevation, I fired steadily at the 

 largest buck. The ball cracked loudly on him, and he disappeared with the rest among the 

 bushes. I had to run back some little way for my horse, a small but well-bred and plucky 

 beast, and quickly mounting him, I started on the tracks of the herd. The bushes only 

 extended a short distance, and beyond was a perfectly open plain with only an occasional 

 bush and tree dotted here and there. I rode on some distance, but could make nothing 

 of the tracks on the hard ground, and could see nothing of the Antelope. 



Retracing my steps to where the buck had been standing, I found a few drops of blood, 

 and on following in the direction indicated by them I picked up a small piece of bone. 

 Some distance farther on the buck jumped up out of a thorny bush in which he had been 

 concealed, and went away at a great pace, and I could now see that one hind leg was broken 

 just below the hock. 



I was not fifty yards behind him, and my horse being by no means slow, I did not 

 expect the chase to be a very long one, and although' the buck at first went right away from 

 me I rattled my horse along in the full expectation that I should soon regain the ground 

 I had lost. 



On we went at nearly full speed for at least two miles, when the severity of the pace 

 began to tell upon my horse, but the buck seemed as fresh as ever, and the interval between 

 us had not diminished. Until now we had been galloping on hard smooth ground, but on 

 coming to some ploughed land I expected to see the buck laboring through the heavy soil, 

 in which, through his superior stride, my horse would have the advantage. The Antelope, 

 however, contrived to find some narrow paths which had not yet been broken up, and by 

 following them he was enabled to go on at little diminished speed. 



I now saw that it was useless attempting to ride him down by mere speed, and I there- 

 fore nursed my horse as much as possible and began to ' ride cunning.' In this way I was 

 enabled to cut off several corners, and at length after crossing two or three ravines, and passino- 

 through some narrow strips of jungle in which the gallant buck seemed to scorn hiding 

 himself, I again found myself not many yards behind him. Reaching a level piece of hard 

 ground I roused my horse for a final effort, and at last the noble buck's course was run. 

 Struggling gamely to the last stride he did not even then give in, but nature was utterly 

 exhausted, the strained limbs at length gave way, and he fell to rise no more. Two minutes 

 after he was dead his limbs were perfectly rigid. My horse was a good deal distressed, and 

 it was altogether one of the most severe runs I ever rode. The total distance could not have 

 been less than five miles. 



The first time that I ever fired an Express rifle was at a Black Buck which I had consi- 

 derable difficulty in circumventing. 



