Page:Guy Boothby - The Beautiful White Devil.djvu/130

 their heads, including my old friend the big buck, who on nearer approach, turned out to be a really magnificent animal.

Knowing that if their suspicions were once thoroughly aroused they would not stop until they had put miles between us, I sighted for five hundred yards and fired. The buck leaped into the air and fell on his knees. I thought I had got him, and was going to jump up and run towards him, when I saw that I was counting my chickens before they were hatched. He had certainly fallen, but a second later he was on his feet again and off after the others. I was certain, however, that I had wounded him, and pretty severely, too.

My belief proved to be a correct one, for about a hundred yards further on he fell again, and seeing this I picked up my rifle and ran after him. But even now he was not done for, for after laying still a moment he rose to his feet again and hobbled into the jungle on the other side of the plain, at the same spot where the rest of the herd had disappeared, I followed as swiftly as I could, and, when I had gained the cover, descried him lying upon the ground near the edge of a deep but dry water-course. Needless to say I did not lose very much time in coming up with him, taking the precaution to load my rifle as I went. When I did I was able to appreciate the majesty of my kill.

He must have been about three years old, and when I saw that he was not quite dead, I drew my hunting-knife and knelt down beside him to bestow the coup de grace. This done, I wiped my knife on the grass, and was preparing to rise again when I felt a heavy hand laid upon my shoulder. Knowing that there was not a soul within