447 
ch. xv] SADDLE-BACKED LECHWE 
cautiously climb an ant-hill to look about. Nothing 
would be in sight. We would scan the ground in every 
direction ; still nothing. Suddenly a dozen heads would 
pop up, just above the grass, two or three hundred 
yards off, and after a steady gaze would disappear, and 
some minutes later would again appear a quarter of a 
mile farther on. Usually they skulked off at a trot or 
canter, necks stretched level with the back, for they 
were great skulkers, and trusted chiefly to escaping 
observation and stealing away from danger unperceived. 
But occasionally they would break into a gallop, making 
lofty bounds, clear above the tops of the grass, and then 
they might go a long way before stopping. I never saw 
them leap on the ant-hills to look about, as is the 
custom of the common or Uganda kob. They were 
rather noisy ; we heard them grunting continually, both 
when they were grazing and when they saw us. 
At last, from an ant-hill, I saw dim outlines of two or 
three animals moving past a little over a hundred yards 
ahead. There was nothing to shoot at, but a moment 
afterward I saw a pair of horns through the grass tops, 
in such a position that it was evident the owner was look¬ 
ing at me. I guessed that he had been moving in the 
direction in which the others had gone, and I guessed at 
the position of the shoulder and fired. The horns dis¬ 
appeared. Then I caught a glimpse, first of a doe, next 
of a buck, in full flight, each occasionally appearing for 
an instant in a great bound over the grass tops. I had 
no idea whether or not I had hit my buck, so Cuning- 
hame stayed on the ant-heap to guide us, while Kongoni 
and I plunged into the long grass, as high as our heads. 
Sure enough, there was the buck, a youngish one, about 
four years old ; my bullet had gone true. While we 
were looking at him we suddenly caught a momentary 
