AN IMPALLA 
109 
CH. V] 
hitting it at a considerable distance and by a lucky 
fluke, after a good deal of bad shooting. We started 
the porters in with the waterbuck, and then rode west 
through an open country, dotted here and there with 
trees and with occasional ant-hills. In a few minutes we 
saw an impalla buck, and I crept up behind an ant-hill 
and obtained a shot at about two hundred and fifty 
yards. The buck dropped, and as I was putting in 
another cartridge I said to Judd that I didn’t like to 
see an animal drop like that, so instantaneously, as 
there was always the possibility that it might only be 
creased, and that if an animal so hurt got up, it always 
went off exactly as if unhurt. When we raised our 
eyes again to look for the impalla, it had vanished. I 
was sure that we would never see it again, and Judd felt 
much the same way; but we walked in the direction 
toward which its head had been pointed, and Judd 
ascended an ant-hill to scan the surrounding country 
with his glasses. He did so, and after a minute remarked 
that he could not see the wounded impalla ; when a 
sudden movement caused us to look down, and there it 
was, lying at our very feet, on the side of the ant-hill, 
unable to rise. I had been using a sharp-pointed bullet 
in the Springfield, and this makes a big hole. The 
bullet had gone too far back, in front of the hips. 
I should not have wondered at all if the animal had 
failed to get up after falling, but I did not understand 
why, as it recovered enough from the shock to be 
able to get up, it had not continued to travel, instead 
of falling after going one hundred yards. Indeed, I am 
inclined to think that a deer or prong-buck, hit in the 
same fashion, would have gone off and would have 
given a long chase before being overtaken. Judging 
from what others have said, I have no doubt that 
