"After Walking For Upwards Of Four Hours Over Ground Covered With
Tracks Of Giraffes, Elephants, And Antelopes About A Fortnight
Old, I Saw Four Tetel (Antelopus Bubalis), But I Was Unfortunate
In My Shot At A Long Range In High Grass.
We had been marching
south-east, and as I intended to return to camp, we now turned
sharp to the west.
The country was beautiful, composed of
alternate glades, copses, and low mimosa forest. At length I
espied the towering head of a giraffe about half a mile distant;
he was in the mimosa forest, and was already speculating upon our
party, which he had quickly observed. Leaving my men in this spot
to fix his attention, I succeeded in making a good stalk to
within one hundred and twenty yards of him. He was exactly facing
me, and I waited for him to turn and expose the flank, but he
suddenly turned so quickly that I lost the opportunity, and he
received the bullet in his back as he started at full speed; for
the moment he reeled crippled among the mimosas, but, recovering,
he made off. I could not fire the left-hand barrel on account of
the numerous trees and bushes. I called my men, and followed for
a few hundred yards upon his track, but as this was directly in
an opposite direction to that of my camp I was forced to give up
the hunt.*
* We found the remains of the Giraffe a few days later.
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