54 ON AN EAST AFRICAN RANCH [ch. ii 
of them sweet of smell; and birds of numerous kinds 
abounded. When we left the hills and the wooded 
watercourses we might ride hour after hour across the 
barren desolation of the flats, while herds of zebra and 
hartebeest stared at us through the heat haze. Then 
the zebra, with shrill, barking neighs, would file off 
across the horizon, or the high-withered hartebeests, 
snorting and bucking, would rush off in a confused 
mass, as unreasoning panic succeeded foolish confidence. 
If I shot anything, vultures of several kinds and the 
tall, hideous marabout storks gathered before the 
skinners were through with their work; they usually 
stayed at a wary distance, but the handsome ravens, 
glossy-hued, with white napes, big-billed, long-winged, 
and short-tailed, came round more familiarly. 
I rarely had to take the trouble to stalk anything; 
the shooting was necessarily at rather long range, but 
by manoeuvring a little, and never walking straight 
toward a beast, I was usually able to get whatever the 
naturalists wished. Sometimes I shot fairly well, and 
sometimes badly. On one day, for instance, the entry 
in my diary ran: “ Missed steinbuck, pig, impalla and 
Grant; awful.” On another day it ran in part as 
follows : “ Out with Heller. Hartebeest, 250 yards, 
facing me ; shot through face, broke neck. Zebra, very 
large, quartering, 160 yards, between neck and shoulder. 
Ruck Grant, 220 yards, walking, behind shoulder. 
Steinbuck, 180 yards, standing, behind shoulder.” 
Generally each head of game bagged cost me a goodly 
number of bullets ; but only twice did I wound animals 
which I failed to get; in the other cases the extra 
cartridges represented either misses at animals which 
got clean away untouched, or else a running fusillade at 
wounded animals which I eventually got. I am a very 
strong believer in making sure, and, therefore, in shoot- 
