126 THE ABYSSINIAN FRONTIER every such circumstance carries its lesson, and it is the ready remembrance of such which gives the value to experience.

Midday had arrived ; we were still on the tramp, with the heat at its height. Strolling along in the river-bed, lazy and unconcerned, were four kudu.

These creatures are by no means common, and seem to frequent only favoured localities. Their size is considerable, and the large spiral horns aid in making them one of the handsomest antelopes known. In the Sudan the horns do not appear to attain the proportions that they do in Rhodesia, and none of those seen in this district seemed equal to quite ordinary specimens which I secured there.

I got in my shot quite well, and the best kudu fell plumb, and remained stretched out on the sand down the river. The others stood staring to look for the cause, but, knowing their scarcity, I forbore to fire, one example sufficing. Carelessly rising, I instructed the boys to descend to him, and turned away while they ran by the bank for an easy way down. A shout made me turn ; I saw the buck move, rise well to its feet, get into its stride, and follow its friends with despatch ! The dead had arisen. A flying shot, almost hopeless at the distance, failed to turn it ; it scaled the bank just ahead of the men, and entered the forest.

The probability is that the bullet had just grazed its spine, and for the few moments knocked it senseless ; and in this connection it is possible that I had made too little allowance for the effect of the