142 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT chap. 



when, much to my astonishment, I saw them, one after 

 the other, stagger to their feet, and, slowly at first, but 

 quickly enough in a moment or two, set out after the 

 rest of the herd. I can account for this only upon the 

 supposition that each one of my four bullets had just 

 grazed the spine, and simply stunned the animals, which 

 upon recovering from the effects of the shock were able 

 to get up and run away. We searched for them several 



Camp on the Plain near Lorian 



hours, but were unable to find them. In the spot where 

 each animal had lain there was blood in plenty, but that 

 was the only evidence that the sighting and shooting of 

 these animals had been other than a dream. 



On several occasions, both Lieutenant von Hohnel 

 and I killed zebra at distances varying from 600 to 800 

 paces. This only happened where the country was so 

 open that we were unable to get closer to the game. 

 The weapon used in these cases was, of course, a Mann- 

 licher, the far-carrying properties of which, during our 



