88 
SAVAGE SUDAN 
seen us for a couple of hours, halted unsuspicious, strung- 
out in a long string. Adjusted sights to 275 yards and 
had the supreme satisfaction, on firing, to see the selected 
bull drop vertically from the field of the object-glass. 
The ball had penetrated both shoulder-blades and he fell 
as though struck by a thunderbolt. His horns taped a 
trifle under 19 inches—identical with those of two others 
previously shot—and, judging from my recollection of topi 
in British East Africa, I (quite erroneously) reckoned I 
possessed three quite good tiang heads. 1 
A curious incident deserves mention. My companion, 
Lowe, lay crouched at my elbow and we had both heard 
the bullet “tell”; we both, moreover, saw the animal 
immediately in front of my selected mark bound high in 
air and make off. L- (who, of course, could not see at 
which of the group I had aimed) remarked —“ You’ve hit 
him, but I fear not on the right place.” Having, however, 
myself seen through the object-glass the instant fall of my 
selected tiang, I was able to reassure him ; and, on our 
standing up, we descried the dark red object right enough, 
lying stone-dead in the grass. 
(11) An Oft-obstructed Stalk 
An hour’s walk had brought us within sight of a troop 
of tiang grazing in open forest. These woods swarm 
with oribi which, by bounding forward, oft convey alarm 
to finer game. Reedbuck also, on occasion, do similar 
disservice. This morning we avoided such mischance 
and presently had the tdtel at 150 yards. There were 
several grand heads among them, but so thickly did they 
cluster that I refused the shot. Slowly they grazed 
across an open glade and entered the thin forest beyond. 
Following their course, we espied among the fringing 
trees the massive forms of two great roan antelope inter- 
1 Topi heads average little more than 15 or 16 inches, while tiang 
average fully 20 inches, and I subsequently secured tiang trophies very 
largely exceeding that measurement. 
