28 THE PLEISTOCENE AGE [ch. i 
settled rutting-time or breeding-time ; at least, we saw 
calves of all ages. 
Our hunt after wildebeest this afternoon was success¬ 
ful ; but, though by veldt law each animal was mine 
because I hit it first, yet in reality the credit was com¬ 
munistic, so to speak, and my share was properly less 
than that of others. I first tried to get up to a solitary 
old bull, and after a good deal of manoeuvring, and by 
taking advantage of a second rain squall, I got a standing 
shot at him at four hundred yards, and hit him, but too 
far back. Although keeping a good distance away, he 
tacked and veered so, as he ran, that by much running 
myself I got various other shots at him, at very long 
range, but missed them all, and he finally galloped over 
a distant ridge, his long tail switching, seemingly not 
much the worse. We followed on horseback, for I hate 
to let any wounded thing escape to suffer. But mean¬ 
while he had run into view of Kermit; and Kermit— 
who is of an age and build which better fit him for 
successful breakneck galloping over unknown country 
dotted with holes and bits of rotten ground—took up 
the chase with enthusiasm. Yet it was sunset, after 
a run of six or eight miles, when he finally ran into and 
killed the tough old bull, which had turned to bay, 
snorting and tossing its horns. 
Meanwhile I managed to get within three hundred 
and fifty yards of a herd, and picked out a large cow 
which was unaccompanied by a calf. Again my bullet 
went too far back, and I could not hit the animal at 
that distance as it ran. But after going half a mile it 
lay down, and would have been secured without diffi¬ 
culty if a wretched dog had not run forward and put it 
up. My horse was a long way back ; but Pease, who 
had been looking on at a distance, was mounted, and 
