246 
SOMALILAND 
after the remains of the dead camel, and a sharp look-out 
had to be kept to prevent them stealing the good meat. 
Next morning we marched in dull, close weather. We 
had now reached a game country at last, as'was apparent 
by the frequent fresh tracks of oryx, dibitag, koodoo, and 
rhinoceros, I had been going about two hours, when I 
perceived three male dibitag about to cross the camel track. 
I slipped out of the saddle, unseen by them, and ran hard 
to cut them off. They walked slowly behind a large bush. 
I sat down, and made up my mind I would do my best to bag 
the three, as I was getting rather tired of killing my camels 
for meat for the men. What an age they seemed to be 
behind that bush! Would they never appear? At last 
one slowly emerged from the bushes, and quietly walked 
broadside to me. I let him walk on till I saw No. 2 
appear, and then took a careful aim at No. 1. Bang! and 
No. 1 ran a few yards and dropped on to his knees. Bang 1 
and No. 2 fell with his heels in the air. ' 
The Mannlicher was working well, and the cartridges 
did not stick. Taking a cool aim, I let the third dibitag 
have it as he galloped away, but hit him too far back. He 
fell, but picked himself up in an instant, and made off at 
a great rate. I raced after him, when the first one shot 
picked himself up, and also disappeared into the bushes. 
Two wounded and one dead ! I yelled, to my shikaris to 
follow one, whilst I went after the other. 
The syce had, as usual, utterly disappeared with my 
water-bottle, sun- helmet, and pony. I soon found my 
beast going very slowly before me, but could not make 
my syce hear, and so I lost the chance of running it 
down at the very start. I had been tracking for about 
ten minutes, when I heard my second shikari shoot, and 
soon afterwards I heard a second shot followed by shouts 
of joy. So I knew that No. 2 was in the larder. On and 
on I went after my beast, which doubled, turned, and 
jumped in a most extraordinary manner, and was followed 
for a long way by a leopard. We described several large 
