68 
SOMALILAND 
at last, and running up discovered the poor beast crouch- 
ing under a thorn-bush dead-beat. I caught hold of his 
hind-legs, but was promptly sent flying backwards by a 
gigantic kick. At last my shikari collared him by the 
horns and cut his throat, after first having received a 
nasty gash in the side from his fore-foot. Having loaded 
the pony and men with the meat, we set off once more to 
rejoin the caravan, when a terrific thunderstorm burst upon 
us, wetting us to the skin, and after losing our way we at 
length heard a signal-shot fired far to the west of us. We 
reached camp in a half-drowned condition. The excuse 
made by my lazy headman next day for not marching was 
that the camel-mats were not dry. 
As my shikari was still suffering, like myself, from sore 
legs, produced by my saddle, which not only wounded 
horses but men, my second shikari and one gunbearer 
started with me to reconnoitre the plain. On the way we 
were obliged to ford a small river, swollen by the rain of 
the night before On reaching the plain, I soon found a 
herd of ‘ owl but walk, walk, walk, they would not stand 
still. I crawled to a bush to cut them off, hoping they 
would stand for a moment ; however, they refused : so, 
putting up the 200 yards sight, I aimed well forward on 
the leading one's shoulder and pressed the trigger, when he 
fell forward stone-dead, the bullet entering his shoulder 
and breaking to pieces inside. This animal had a beautiful 
head, the horns measuring l7f inches round the curve, 
circumference at base 6 inches. The skin, however, was 
infested with a huge bot-llke grub, very fat and cylindrical, 
of a dirty olive-brown, and about half an inch long. This 
grub burrowed between the poor animal’s skin and its flesh. 
I squeezed several out of small holes made by them in the 
skin, by pressure of the finger and thumb. 
Coming home with the head, skin, and as much of the 
meat as we could carry, we found the spoor of an ostrich, 
which had crossed our track of four hours ago. When I 
got home that scoundrel of a headman of mine wanted to 
