African Game Trails 
5 
a big bull, a small bull, and two cows; at a 
distance the big bull looked slaty blue. The 
great, sleek, handsome creatures were feed¬ 
ing in the long grass just like cattle, switch¬ 
ing their long tails at the flies. The country 
looked like a park, with clumps of thorn- 
trees scattered over the grassy sward. Care¬ 
fully I crept on all-fours from tree clump 
to tree clump, trying always to move when 
the elands’ heads were down grazing. At 
last I was within three hundred yards, when 
one of the cows caught a glimpse of me and 
alarmed the others. They were startled, 
but puzzled, and after trotting a few rods 
turned to stare at the half-seen object of 
I their alarm. Rising to my knee I shot the 
big bull in the throat as with head erect he 
gazed in my direction. Off he went with a 
rush, the others bounding and leaping as 
they accompan¬ 
ied him, and we 
followed on the 
blood spoor. Ba- 
khari and Gouvi- 
mali trotted fast 
on the trail, and 
in order to be 
fresh for the shot 
I mounted Tran¬ 
quillity. Sudden¬ 
ly out bounced 
the wounded bull 
from some bushes 
close by, and the 
horse nearly had 
a fit; I could 
hardly get off in 
time to empty my 
magazine at long 
range—fortunate¬ 
ly with effect. It 
was a magnifi¬ 
cent bull of the 
variety called 
Patterson’s eland, 
with a fine head. 
Few prize oxen 
would be as 
heavy, and in 
spite of its great 
size, its finely 
moulded limbs 
and beautiful 
coat gave it a 
Kikuyu warrior. thoroughly game 
a photograph by Edmund Heller. look. 
An oryx shot by Kermit Roosevelt. 
From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt. 
Oryx were now what I especially wished, 
and we devoted all of the following day to 
their pursuit. We saw three bands, two of 
them accompanying herds of zebra, after 
the manner of kongoni. Both species were 
found indifferently on the bare, short-grass 
flats and among the thin, stunted thorn- 
trees which covered much of the plains. 
After a careful stalk, the latter part on all- 
fours,.! got to within about three hundred 
yards of a mixed herd, and put a bullet into 
one oryx as it faced me, and hit another as 
it ran. The first, from its position, I 
thought I would surely kill if I hit it at all, 
and both of the wounded beasts were well 
behind the herd when it halted a mile away 
on the other side of the plain. But as we 
approached they all went off together, and I 
can only hope the two I hit recovered; at 
any rate, after we had followed them for 
