IX 
KOODOO-STALKING ON GOLIS RANGE 
227 
ridges, or ridges covered with grass and aloe-jungle, forming the 
watersheds. He was about three hundred yards away in front 
of us, standing nibbling the young shoots of the gudd where a 
thick mass of this kind of jungle crowned a ridge. The ground 
where the koodoo had taken up his position was higher than the 
low open ridge on which we were standing when we saw him ; 
but the wind was blowing in our faces, and was therefore in our 
favour. Two small torrent-beds intervened between us and the 
game. His body was quite concealed by the dark green foliage, 
only the head and shining horns being occasionally visible as he 
stretched to reach a branch, and it was long before I could 
make out at what Geli was pointing. But looking through my 
field-glass I saw that I had to deal with the bearer of a splendid 
pair of horns, the best I had seen, the whitish tips looking a 
yard apart. 
We sank flat to the ground together where we had stood, and 
lay, without daring to move, fearing that some unlucky chance 
should cause him to come out of the bush and look towards 
us. We spoke in whispers, taking more precautions than were 
necessary at this distance because of the great size of this par- 
ticular old bull, and the fear I had of losing him. We lay upon a 
flat, open piece of gravel about ten yards square ; and so nervous 
did we become that we dared not creep along the ground from 
our respective positions far enough to tear down a branch to hold 
before the face, preferring to lie motionless in the open, in full 
view, to the chance of a movement catching his eye. We lay 
for probably twenty minutes watching him, and had perfected all 
the arrangements for a difficult stalk, when, with an abrupt move- 
ment, he turned his head towards the north, only the tips of his 
horns appearing above the foliage. But they were motionless, 
and I knew that he had seen or heard something. I turned my 
head round slowly to look at my companions, to see whether 
they had moved, but they lay as they had dropped, and no sound 
above a whisper had been uttered by any of us. 
Suddenly the pair of horns swung round to the south, and 
the bull’s shoulders appeared in full view as he gave a great 
bound forward, disappeared among the bushes, and emerged 
galloping his hardest up the ridge, where the jungle was thin, 
his tail held erect ; next second he had plunged into a water- 
course and disappeared, and a few minutes later we saw his 
whole body in the far distance as he made his way heavily up 
the steep Gol Aderyu ridge and went down on the other side. 
