GRAND SHOOTING. 167 



thought I could never sufRoiently admire him. Having 

 removed the head and skin, we made for the camp, and 

 on my way thither I was tempted to try a long shot at 

 one of the two old blesboks that kept capering to lee- 

 ward of us. Sitting down on the grass, and resting 

 both my elbows on my knees (a manner of firing much 

 practiced by the Boers), I let fly at a blesbok, and 

 made one of the finest shots I had ever seen, sending 

 the ball through the middle of his shoulder at upward 

 of two hundred and fifty yards. On receiving it, he 

 cantered forward a short distance and fell dead. The 

 rifle I used in those days was a. double-barreled two- 

 grooved one, by Dixon of Edinburgh, with which I 

 managed to make such superior shooting to that which 

 I could perform with the old style of rifle, that I con- 

 sidered the latter as a mere "pop-gun" in comparison 

 with the other. In the evening I took up my position 

 in my shooting-hole to the northward of camp. About 

 an hour after the moon rose, a troop of w;ildebeests came 

 and stood within thirty yards of me. I fixed, and a very 

 large bull with one horn fell to the shot. If I had al- 

 lowed this buU. to lie there, my chance of further sport 

 was over for that night arid the following morning. I 

 therefore took the old fellow by his horn, and, exerting 

 my utmost strength and taking time, I managed to 

 drag him as he fell, and still living, to a hollow beside 

 the water, in which I concealed him. In half an hour 

 another troop of wildebeests came and stood snufiing 

 on the spot where he had fallen. I fired, and a fine old 

 bull received the ball in the shoulder, and, bounding 

 forward one hundred yards, rpUed over in the dust. In 

 about an hour a third troop of wildebeests came and 

 stood within thirty yards of me.. At one of these I let 

 fly, and heard the ball crack loudly on his shoulder. 



