52 IN A LAND DESERTED " Who are you ?" Oribi gazelle leapt, and, slim as greyhounds, darted among bushes and grass tufts on one occasion failing to do so before a bullet had laid a pretty creature low.

As the sun crept higher in the heavens the birdvoices gradually ceased, walking became more onerous, and the canvas bag of cold tea carried by the mule was much sought after.

But heat, thirst, and fatigue, were on the instant forgotten when Ibrahim, peeping over the riverbank, was seen to crouch suddenly low, signalling wildly for my approach, then stealthily raising his head to keep his eye on a moving black line of animals some hundreds of yards up the river-bed.

" Gamoos " (buffalo), whispered Ibrahim. As we looked they trotted slowly up a large khor, and we retreated hastily, to take a short cut to intercept them. Descending into the river-bed, where the heat radiated from the sand was terrific, we followed the tracks into a large extent of grass which towered above our heads. Here our passage was only made possible by the fact that our quarry had passed before, and we emerged, covered with crawling, black grass ticks, to find it had vanished beyond the bank into the recesses of the bush, where we failed to overtake it.

I lay exhausted under a tree while word was sent back to camp for lunch, regardless of the fact that the ground was soft with black ashes ; little cared I for the colour of my clothes. Ibraliim, also half dead with thirst, still employed himself by seeking