However, Before I Had Decreased My Distance By A Hundred Yards
He Started Off At Full Gallop.
Putting Filfil into a canter I increased
the pace until I found that I must press him at full speed, as the
waterbuck, although on only three legs, had the best of it.
The ground
was rough, having been marshy and trodden into ruts by the game, but now
dried by the sun;-bad for both horse and antelope, but especially for
the former: however, after a race of about a mile I found myself gaining
so rapidly that in a few moments I was riding on his left flank within
three yards of him, and holding the rifle with one hand like a pistol I
shot him dead through the shoulder. This little double rifle is an
exceedingly handy weapon;-it was made for me about nine years ago by
Thomas Fletcher, gunmaker of Gloucester, and is of most perfect
workmanship. I have shot with it most kinds of large game; although the
bore is so small as No. 24, I have bagged with it rhinoceros,
hippopotamus, lions, buffaloes, and all the heavy game except elephants
and giraffes; upon the latter I have never happened to try it. Weighing
only eight pounds and three-quarters it is most convenient to carry on
horseback, and although I have had frequent accidents through my horse
falling in full gallop, the stock is perfectly sound to this day. The
best proof of thorough honest workmanship is, that in many years of hard
work it has never been out of order, nor has it ever been in a
gunmaker's hands.
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