44 
SOMALILAND 
In the afternoon I hit an ‘ owl ’ gazelle right behind the 
shoulder, and he lay down. In the twinkling of an eye a 
jackal appeared, and, coming up behind the antelope, 
jumped high upon its back. The dying antelope was up 
in a second, and, shaking ofl* the plucky little jackal, kept 
him off with its horns as they both ran round and round, 
the jackal always trying to jump up behind. At first I did 
not know which to fire at, but wishing to end the poor 
wounded beast’s misery, I put another bullet behind his 
shoulder within an inch of the first ; but he still stood, 
demonstrating what marvellous tenacity of life gazelle 
possess. I then dragged him to the ground by his horns, 
and finished him with my hunting knife. This was no 
easy task, as with the frantic kicks of his hind-legs he went 
nigh ripping me up. Meanwhile, the jackal was squatting 
in the bushes, no doubt watching us intently, and no sooner 
had we ripped off the skin, taken the best of the meat, and 
turned our backs, than out he came, and began a hurried 
meal on the remains. After this we unsuccessfully stalked 
oryx, when my shikari coolly observed, ‘ Now we go 
home.’ 
Next day, through being hurried by my shikari, 1 missed 
a ridiculously easy shot at an oryx. He kept repeating 
afterwards, ‘ Forty yards — forty yards !’ I didn’t say any- 
thing, but I thought a lot. We then sighted a fine herd of 
oryx, which we stalked, my shikari again wanting me to 
fire at long range ; but I seized the rifle from him, beckoned 
to him to sit down, and crept another 50 yards nearer to 
them without being observed. Sitting down, I took a nice 
quiet shot all to myself. I hit the animal I aimed at, how- 
ever, too far back, and after tracking him into thick bush, 
he jumped up again and was out of sight before I could 
fire. We followed the blood-spoor for miles, until at length, 
after taking a drink from my water-bottle, I returned home 
with my pony and syce dead-beat, having had quite enough 
of it under the roasting sun, leaving my shikari to keep on 
following the oryx. It was several hours before we reached 
