402 
ROOSEVELT IN WILDS OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
most remarkable of the inhabitants of the dark continent. With its 
long legs and extraordinary length of neck the giraffe lifts its lofty 
head to a higher elevation than any other inmate of the animal king¬ 
dom and can browse with ease off trees at a height which even the 
tip of the elephant's trunk would fail to reach. 
Our ardent hunting naturalist wanted a good bull and cow of this 
interesting species, and by careful stalking he succeeded in bringing 
down a big bull. But this giraffe, though badly hurt, was not disabled 
and struggled to its feet again, running from the hunters with all the 
speed of its long legs. Though hotly pursued, the best of African 
horses would never have been able to run him down had it not been for 
the serious wound he had received. This caused the tall beast to totter 
and lose speed and he finally succumbed to the bullets of his unrelenting 
foes. 
While Roosevelt was engaged in this hunt, Sir Alfred Pease and 
Kermit set off in chase of another member of the same herd, which 
they in turn had succeeded in wounding. While chasing it hotly on 
horseback, Sir Alfred’s ride came suddenly to an end, the horse getting 
its foot in a hole which caused it to turn almost a somersault, wrench¬ 
ing its shoulder and flinging its rider half stunned over its head. 
Kermit, with boyish ardor, followed on the track of the speeding 
giraffe until his horse, weary with the day’s work,, completely gave out. 
This misadventure did not check the ardent young hunter. With a 
college record for sprinting, he sprang from the saddle and chased 
the wounded animal on foot for more than a mile. The poor creature 
had been badly hurt and its bleeding flight fast used up its strength, 
that the pursuer had at length the satisfaction of seeing it halt, 
:>tter on its long legs, and fall crashing to the ground, stone dead, 
hat day’s hunt had added two giraffes to the hunters’ record. 
On May 15th the Roosevelt party left the ranch of Sir Alfred for 
that of Mr. George McMullen, a wealthy American from St. Louis, 
who had been led by his love of hunting to take up a lodge in that wide 
wilderness. McMullen was a hunter of prowess and his wife shared 
his enthusiasm and had herself brought down a lion. The ranch, an 
extensive one, was kept for its owner’s use alone, though he raised the 
embargo in Mr. Roosevelt’s favor and gave him every facility in his 
power. 
