XVIII SPEED OF WILD DOG 385 



instead of showing fight, as I should have expected 

 it to have done, it threw out its Hmbs convulsively, 

 and came dashing past us at its utmost speed. It 

 was, however, to no purpose, for the wild dog lying 

 flat to the ground as a greyhound, its bushy tail 

 stretched straight behind it, covered two yards to its 

 one, and came up to it in no time. It just gave it 

 one bite in the flank, and letting go its hold instantly, 

 fell a few yards behind ; at the bite the sable antelope 

 swerved towards us, and upon receiving a second, 

 in exactly the same place, turned still more, so that, 

 taking the point on which we stood for a centre, 

 both pursuer and pursued had described about a 

 half- circle round us, always within 200 yards, 

 since the sable antelope had first halted. As the 

 wild dog was just going up the third time it got 

 our wind, and instead of again inflicting a bite, 

 stopped dead and looked towards us, whilst about 

 100 yards from it the sable antelope also came 

 to a stand. The baflled hound then turned round, 

 and, pursued by Clarkson, made off one way, whilst 

 the sable antelope, delivered from its tormentor, 

 cantered off in another. This is the only time I 

 have ever heard of a wild dog pursuing an animal 

 by itself, especially such a formidable antagonist as 

 a sable antelope bull, which can use its horns with 

 wonderful ciexterity. The wild dog, I fancy, must 

 have been well aware of this fact, and, if so, that 

 would account for its only inflicting a bite, and at 

 once letting go its hold, for if, like a tame dog, it 

 were to have held on, it would have been infalHbly 

 transfixed. Whether in time it would have succeeded 

 in tearing the sable antelope's flank open, and then 

 pulling its entrails out piecemeal, which was its 

 evident intention, I cannot say ; but I think it a 



2 c 



