248 THROUGH SOMALILAND AND ABYSSINIA — CHAP. 
the corner of a patch of forest looking down on the river from 
the edge of a steep bank. 
Next day at dawn I went out and soon came upon a water- 
buck. We had been making for a wide glade of fresh grass, and 
on emerging from the forest caught sight of him going up a bank 
two hundred yards away. I fired, and we ran to the spot, but 
his tracks leading away without any sign of blood, I knew I had 
missed. He took us through several thick patches of bush, the 
game paths sometimes forming tunnels four feet high in the 
vegetation : and at last, the light appearing ahead, we forced our 
way through a thicket and found ourselves unexpectedly on the 
very verge of the Webbe, a few yards from the water's edge. 
Directly we showed our heads outside the jungle my man 
Géli pushed me back and pointed out into the centre of the stream, 
which lay before us, flowing deep and swift, a hundred yards 
broad ; out in the middle appeared the head and horns of the 
waterbuck swimming for the opposite shore. It was too good 
a prize to lose, so, waiting till he shook the water from his 
flanks and cantered up the slope of stiff mud, I fired, and striking 
him behind the withers brought him down ; and another shot 
finished him. In his struggles he had slipped down the bank to 
within six feet of the water, and I was in a fright lest his splendid 
head should go to the crocodiles. We ran the three miles back 
to camp along the margin of the water, and on reaching it I set 
all the men to work, cutting down the trunks of dead dry trees 
to form a raft, and by the afternoon it was ready. 
