92 
EAST AFRICA AND ITS BIG GAME. 
fied and equally uncomfortable position, and explained, 
what I had almost realised without explanation, that I 
had tumbled into a game-pit. A careful survey of this 
scene of my abasement disclosed a funnel-shaped trap 
about twelve feet deep, and three feet wide at the top as 
against only one foot at the bottom : this, unlike many 
others, was luckily free from spikes and stakes, but the 
way in which the mouth was concealed by the smooth 
and well-trodden grass was most creditable to the artist 
who had planned and arranged it, and I should imagine 
quite capable of deceiving an animal with four legs as 
well as one with only two. 
During the afternoon I came upon zebra, hartebeest, 
and eland, on ground quite unsuitable for a stalk, being 
free from undergrowth and merely studded with tall 
thorn-trees about fifteen feet apart, much resembling 
an ordinary English orchard. I obtained one shot 
after a very tiresome crawl, and thought I had hit, as 
the creature made a great bound; but he never left the 
herd, so I hope I was mistaken. Nearer home I shot 
at a hartebeest, hitting him too low, so that he led me 
a long dance before I succeeded in bagging him. 
It was now getting dark, and we were nearly five 
miles from home. I thought if I got on the Caga track, 
which was close by, I might safely leave the men to 
cut up the hartebeest, and could easily make my way 
back ; but the Caga track through the forest is much 
longer than the others, and not nearly so well defined. 
The result was, that after falling into several wart-hog 
holes outside the forest, I eventually got off the track 
