SOMALILAND 
86 ; 
to him to crawl, but it was too late : the zebra had noticed 
him. They began to walk slowly away. I snatched the 
rifle from my shikari’, and ran through the bushes to try 
and get level with them, or, if possible, in front of them, 
as they walked parallel to the bushes. They were not 
seriously alarmed, but trotted quietly towards the bushes, 
instead of keeping to the open plain, where they had been 
standing safe for so long. I raced on parallel with them, 
until they suddenly came to a standstill to stare about 
them. I sat down, hot and very shaky, and fired ; the 
animal aimed at ran on about 10 yards, and then fell ovet* 
stone-dead. I raced on through the bush, to try and keep 
up with the cloud of dust as the whole hundred dashed away. 
At length I heard them stop, but at first the dust was too 
thick to see them. At last, however, the wind blew some 
away, . and disclosed a sight I shall never forget. Sur- 
rounded by a halo or vignette of dust stood this magnifi- 
cent herd, making the most perfect picture, framed all 
round with dust, it is possible to imagine. I sat down, 
but could not then see over the edge of the frame ; so again 
standing, I fired, as it were, through a hole in the dust 
cloud, and then raced through the cloud, yelling for the 
pony, which, after a gallop of a few hundred yards, 
succeeded in stopping a zebra which I had hit in the 
middle. Before I could come up, the animal lay down 
and died. 
About a mile off could be seen a great yellow cloud, as 
the remaining animals made good their escape, looking like 
the steam from a locomotive wending its w^ay through trees 
and open plains as far as the eye could see. When I got 
home I could see, with the aid of my telescope, a huge 
crowd of vultures feeding upon the carcase of the first 
zebra, which lay right out in the open about a mile from 
camp. Behind them walked a huge herd of ‘ owl,’ making 
a very pretty panorama. As I looked through the glass, I 
saw two jackals stalk through the grass towards them. 
All the vultures’ heads went up in a moment, and the 
