objected, on tbe plea tbat guns could be best used against
arrows in tbe open; but none would go out in tbe field,
maintaining tbat tbe Wagogo would fear to attack us so
far from tbeir villages as we now were, lest we migbt cut
tbem off in tbeir retreat.
Hori Hori was now cbief in Short-legs’s stead, and
affected to be mueb pleased tbat we were English, and
not Arabs. He told us we migbt, be tbougbt, be able to
recruit all tbe men tbat we were in want of, as many
Wanyamiiezi wbo had been left there sick wished to go
to tbeir homes; and I would only, in addition to their
wages, have to pay tbeir “ hotel bills” to tbe Wagogo.
This, of course, I was ready to do, though I knew tbe
Wanyamiiezi bad paid for themselves, as is usual, by tbeir
work in the fields of tbeir hosts. Still, as I should be depriving
these of bands, I could scarcely expect to get off
for less than tbe value of a slave for each, and told Sheikh
Said to look out for some men at once, whilst at tbe same
time be laid in provisions of grain to last us eight days in
tbe wilderness, and settle tbe bongo.
For this triple business I allowed three days, during
Halt 7&. which time, always eager to shoot something,
either for science or tbe pot, I killed a bicomis
rhinoceros, at a distance of five paces only, with my small
4 0 -gauge Lancaster, as tbe beast stood quietly feeding
in tbe bush; and I also shot a bitch fox of tbe genus
Otocyon lalandii, whose ill-omened cry often alarms tbe
natives by forewarning tbem of danger. This was rather
tame sport; but next day I bad better fun.
Starting in tbe early morning, accompanied by two of
Sheikh Said’s boys, Suliman and Farai, each Halt, 8 t h . . . n J 1 . , J carrying a rifle, while I earned a shot-gun,
we followed a footpath to the westward in the wilderness
of Mgfinda Mkhali. There, after walking a short while in
the bush, as I heard the grunt of a buffalo close on my
left, I took “ Blissett” in hand, and walked to where I
soon espied a large herd quietly feeding. They were quite
unconscious of my approach, so I took a shot at a cow, and
wounded her; then, after reloading, put a ball in a bull
and staggered him also. This caused great confusion
among them; but as none of the animals knew where the
shots came from, they simply shifted about in a fidgety
manner, allowing me to kill the first cow, and even fire a
fourth shot, which sickened the great bull, and induced
him to walk off, leaving the herd to their fate, who, considerably
puzzled, began moving off also.
I now called up the boys, and determined on following
the herd down before either skinning the dead cow or
following the bull, who I knew could not go far. Their
footprints being well defined in the moist sandy soil, we
soon found the herd again; but as they now knew they
were pursued, they kept moving on in short runs at a
time, when, occasionally gaining glimpses of their large
dark bodies as they forced through the bush, I repeated
my shots and struck a good number, some more and some
less severely. This was very provoking ; for all of them
being stern shots were not likely to kill, and the jungle
was so thick I could not get a front view of them. Presently,
however, one with her hind leg broken pulled up
on a white-ant hill, and, tossing her horns, came down
with a charge the instant I showed myself close to her.
One crack of the rifle rolled her over, and gave me free
scope to improve the bag, which was very soon d o n e fo r
on following the spoors, the traces of blood led us up to
another one as lame as the last. He then got a second
bullet in the flank, and, after hobbling a little, evaded our
sight and threw himself into a bush, where we no sooner
arrived than he plunged headlong at us from his ambush,
just, and only just, giving me time to present my small
40-gauge Lancaster. '
It was a most ridiculous scene. Siiliman by my side,