A blue bull eland. 
ing the final two hours’ walk in the dark¬ 
ness. It was hot, and we neither had nor 
wished for food, and the tepid water in the 
canteens lasted us through. The day I 
shot the giraffe the porters carrying the 
skin fell behind, and never got in until 
next morning. Coming back in the late 
twilight a party of the big zebra, their 
forms shadowy and dim, trotted up to us, 
evidently attracted by the horses, and ac¬ 
companied us for some rods; and a hedge¬ 
hog, directly in our path, kept bleating 
loudly, like an antelope kid. 
The day we spent in taking care of the 
giraffe skin we, of course, made no hunt. 
However, in the afternoon I sauntered up¬ 
stream a couple of miles to look for croco¬ 
diles. I saw none, but I was much inter¬ 
ested in some zebra and water-buck. The 
zebra were on the opposite side of the river, 
standing among some thorns, and at three, 
mid-afternoon, they came down to drink; 
up to this time I had generally found zebra 
drinking in the evening or at night. Then 
I saw some water-buck, also on the oppo¬ 
site bank, working their way toward the 
32 
river, and seeing a well-marked drinking- 
place ahead I hastened toward it, and sat 
down in the middle of the broad game trail 
leading down to the water on my side. I 
sat perfectly still, and my clothes were just 
the color of the ground, and the water-buck 
never noticed me, though I was in plain 
view when they drank, just opposite me, 
and only about fifty yards off. There were 
four cows and a bull. It was four o’clock 
in the afternoon. The cows came first, one 
by one, and were very alert and suspicious, 
each continually stopped and stood mo¬ 
tionless, or looked in every direction, and 
gave little false starts of alarm. When they 
reached, the green grass by the water’s edge 
each cropped a few mouthfuls, between 
times nervously raising its head and looking 
in every direction, nostrils and ears twitch¬ 
ing. They were not looking for crocodiles, 
but for land foes, lions or leopards. Each 
in turn drank, skipping up to the top of the 
bank after a few mouthfuls, and then re¬ 
turning to the water. The bull followed 
with rather less caution, and before he had 
finished drinking the cows scurried hur- 
