ELANDS 
441 
CH. xv] 
on the beast, and immediately afterward caught a 
glimpse of it. Taking advantage of every patch of 
cover, I crawled toward it on all-fours, my rifle too hot 
for me to touch the barrel, while the blistering heat of 
the baked ground hurt my hands. At a little over a 
hundred yards I knelt and aimed at the noble beast. I 
could now plainly see his huge bulk and great, massive 
horns, as he stood under a tree. The pointed bullet 
from the little Springfield hit a trifle too far back 
and up, but made such a rip that he never got ten 
yards from where he was standing; and great was my 
pride as I stood over him, and examined his horns, 
twisted almost like a koodoo’s, and admired his size, 
his finely modelled head and legs, and the beauty of his 
coat. 
Meanwhile, Kermit had killed two eland, a cow on 
the first day, and on the second a bull even better than, 
although not quite so old as, mine. Kermit could see 
game and follow tracks almost as well as his gun- 
bearers, and in a long chase could outrun them. On 
each day he struck the track of a herd of eland, and 
after a while left his gun-bearers and porters, and ran 
along the trail, accompanied only by a native guide. 
The cow was killed at two hundred yards with a shot 
from his Winchester. The bull yielded more excite¬ 
ment. He was in a herd of about forty which Kermit 
had followed for over five hours, toward the last 
accompanied only by the wild native ; at one point the 
eland had come upon a small party of elephant, and 
trotted off at right angles to their former course— 
Kermit following them after he had satisfied himself 
that the elephants were cows and half-grown animals. 
When he finally overtook the eland, during the torrid 
heat of the early afternoon, they were all lying down, 
