THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
of the day in quite thick forest country. Their black-and-white faces and 
the flashing of their long black horns in the sun often betray their presence 
when they are still a long way off; but, on their part they are very keen 
of sight, as well as of scent, and can only be approached in open country 
by very careful stalking. Once disturbed, they go further than any other 
animal I know of before stopping, and although they do not run their very 
hardest unless pressed, yet they always keep up a great pace, their long 
bushy black tails almost brushing the ground. As they run, their heads 
are carried rather low, so that their long thin horns stand up very straight, 
almost at right angles with the line of their backs. 
I have always hunted gemsbucks on horseback, and have had many 
a long, hard gallop after these beautiful creatures, which have been 
described by some writers as the fleetest of all South African antelopes. 
Personally, I consider that for pace and endurance when ridden after hard, 
gemsbucks are much on a par with sable and roan antelopes — in both 
cases, of course, leaving out of account cows heavy with calf — but that in 
these respects they are much inferior to all species of both hartebeests 
and wildebeests. At any rate, I have fairly ridden down two gemsbucks. 
The first was a single bull, which I chased and pressed hard for a long 
distance through bush which was too thick to allow me to dismount and 
take a running shot. Suddenly he stopped and allowed me to ride close 
past him, and he did not move again until I pulled up in front of him and 
killed him with a bullet through the heart. The second gemsbuck which I 
rode down was a cow — one of a herd of about fifteen — with no bull amongst 
them. In this herd there was another cow with a most beautiful pair of 
horns, which I eventually secured; but as this coveted animal always ran 
in the van of the herd, I could not get a shot at it for a long time, and before 
I did so one of the other cows suddenly stopped and let me ride close past 
her. No doubt this cow was in calf, but as she would not have dropped her 
calf for at least six months, this could not have affected her running powers 
to any great extent. It must not, however, be imagined that gemsbucks can, 
as a rule, be easily overtaken on horseback, as on both the occasions I have 
referred to I was very well mounted, and my horses were not only in very 
good condition, but trained hard. 
I have twice met with gemsbucks in company with Burchell’s zebras, 
and when disturbed, both species ran off together, the latter closely 
following the former in such a way that it was only possible to get a shot 
at any of the gemsbucks after first galloping past the zebras. This I was 
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