A FIRST PRIZE OF SUDAN 
155 
A Memorable Afternoon with Saddleback 
Upon the sixth of February, 1914—despite the self- 
denying resolve just recorded—we had searched a well- 
reputed haunt of “ Megaceros.” Starting before dawn 
we hunted till past noontide; yet never a sight of the 
sable syren rewarded those seven hours’ toil, and by one 
o’clock Candace was under way. Two hours later—I was 
busy writing in my cabin—an excited report electrified 
the atmosphere. Within view from the poop stood a 
troop of a dozen saddleback, including two rams, whose 
jet-black hides set off snow-white withers. Both these 
rams, as revealed by the binoculars, carried thoroughly 
warrantable heads; moreover, the herd appeared to be 
grazing on relatively solid ground. Hence orders to 
“close with the shore” promptly followed, and within a 
mile we discovered an available landing-place. 
Oh! the fraud of appearances! What we had innocently 
mistaken for firm ground proved but little better than 
bottomless bog. The first step had been knee-deep; 
within 50 yards we were mired to the middle. Nature’s 
camouflage was perfect. Above, charred stalks of papyrus 
and a tangle of rank swamp-grasses served to half conceal 
the Serbonian bog beneath — deep slime, foetid and 
stinking, intercepted by criss-crossed canes that tripped 
one’s feet and arrested every step. Moreover, at short 
intervals, yet deeper khors threatened absolutely to bar 
all further progress. The venture appeared hopeless but, 
having put our hands to the plough, we proceeded. 
The game being a mile back, was at first beyond 
sight. Through those intervening screens of tall canes 
and bulrush—often on hands and knees—-we forced a 
painful way; rampikes of splintered cane or spear-grass 
pierced clothes and flesh alike, while the armoured shafts 
of Oom-suff (Garex) fairly pincushioned arms and hands 
with a thousand barbed spicules. We won through in 
