THE GIANT ELAND 
442 
[CH. XV 
in a place where the trees grew rather more thickly 
than usual. 
Stalking as close as he dared, he selected a big animal 
which he hoped was a bull, and fired three shots into it; 
however, it ran, and he then saw that it was a cow. 
As the rest of the herd jumped up he saw the form of 
the master bull looming above the others. They crossed 
his front at a slashing trot, the cows clustered round the 
great bull; but just as they came to a small opening, 
they parted a little, giving him a clear shot. Down 
went the bull on his head, rose, received another bullet, 
and came to a standstill. This was the last bullet from 
the magazine; and now the mechanism of the rifle 
refused to work or to throw the empty shell out of the 
chamber. The faithful Winchester, which Kermit had 
used steadily for ten months, on foot and on horseback, 
which had suffered every kind of hard treatment and 
had killed every kind of game, without once failing, had 
at last given way under the strain. While Kermit was 
working desperately at the mechanism, the bull, which 
was standing looking at him within fifty yards, gradually 
recovered, moved off step by step, and broke into a 
slow trot. After it went Kermit as hard as he could 
go, still fussing with the rifle, which he finally opened, 
and refilled with five cartridges. Kermit could just 
about keep the eland in sight, running as hard as he 
was able. After a mile or two it lay down, but rose as 
he came near, and went off again, while he was so 
blown that though, with four shots, he hit it twice, he 
failed to kill it. He now had but one bullet left, after 
which he knew that the rifle would jam again ; and it 
was accordingly necessary to kill outright with the next 
shot. He was just able to keep close to the bull for 
half a mile, then it halted ; and he killed it. Leaving 
