Page 136 - Adventures in Africa

“ The brutes will not come back to this locality/'
exclaimed my uncle, “ We must now put the other
ones out of their pain.’'

A rifle ball sent through the head of each quickly
did this. Rapidly skinning them, we left the carcases

to be devoured by the birds of prey, which almost
before we got out of sight appeared in the air; for
although hyaenas and jackals are said to keep aloof

even from a dead lion, the vulture tribes possess no
such awe for the monarch of the wilds.
Returning to where we had left our cattle, we at

once moved forward, anxious to get out from among
the rocky defiles as soon as possible. Scarcely had
we emerged from them, than we saw in the distance

an enormous herd of deer, which Mr. Welbourn at
once pronounced to be u pallah." As they approached

we drew on one side before we were discovered. First
came a stag, a magnificent animal of a bay colour,
fading into a whity-brown, with elegantly, somewhat

harp-shaped horns, marked with rings, and a black
semicircular mark on the croup by which it could be

at once distinguished. Its feet were of a jetty hue.
Though it might have seen us, it continued walking
on in a sedate manner, the rest following their leader

with a confidence which showed that they must put
implicit trust in him,
M y uncle and Hans, at once dismounting, crept

towards the herd; and, waiting until the greater
number had passed, fired together, when three of the
animals fell dead. The remainder, instead of turning

to fly, dashed forward to fill up the gaps in their line,
the whole moving on at a much greater speed than