364 SAVAGE SUDAN 
stone-dead where he stood and never a kick. I sketched 
him as he fell. 
It was an afternoon of surprises and, at the shot, 
yet another surprise ensued. The main body of ariel 
— then half behind us —would, one might naturally 
expect, have taken a direct flight over the ridge in 
their rear; but no! they deliberately selected a line of 
retreat across the open strath whereon we sat — thus 
passing us diagonally, in single file, and not over 100 
yards distant. 
When that spectral buck fell (my second that after¬ 
noon), I had remarked to Lowe, “that closes our account 
with ariel ”; but this new temptation proved too strong. 
As one handsome head after another slowly nodded past 
us, I selected the best and fired—wrong, I admit; but 
Nemesis stood at my elbow and a bad shot resulted— 
too far back. The crippled ariel sought escape in a deep 
and rugged ravine that led up into higher hills beyond. 
But the pursuit had one delightful sequel; for it brought 
us face to face with four ibex, a ram and three does 
grazing on the terraces of a big black jebel some 500 
yards away. The necessity of firing a final shot to retrieve 
our crippled ariel precluded any chance with the ibex 
which otherwise might have been stalked. 
The incident brings into vivid perspective the rugged 
nature of the ground into which ariel penetrate. 
The three ariel bucks shot this evening all carried 
good heads—beyond the average hereabouts; yet none 
of them much exceeded 14 inches. 
One word in conclusion on the ethics of the African 
hunter of to-day. No longer, as a rule, does he permit 
himself to stalk, or to kill, merely for the gratification of 
so doing. The spirit of the Shikar Club—interpreting 
modern reason and commonsense—breathes loftier senti¬ 
ments. In the back-veld, the sacrifice of a head or two 
of game is necessary, on occasion, to feed a camp or 
safari; otherwise, ambition in the modern rifleman in 
