MEERKATS. i6s 



than good fat mice, which he had caught in the veklt. 

 Rewarding the captor, in the usual Karroo style of 

 barter, with a pound of coffee, we took possession of 

 his prize ; and though at first our chance of rearing 

 the tiny animals seemed doubtful, they flourished, 

 grew up into fine specimens of their kind, and were 

 among the most amusing of all our pets. They looked 

 like a perfectly- matched pair of little images with 

 heads moving by clockwork, as they stood, bolt up- 

 right, in their favourite places, one against each door- 

 post, and, critically surveying the view with an air 

 of never having seen it before, revelled in the hot 

 sunshine which came pouring in through the open 

 doorway. 



Unlike *' birds in their little nests," and more after 

 the unamiable fashion of human twins — who generally 

 have to be sent to separate schools — they got on very 

 badly together ; and their frequent fights displayed 

 most comically the strong contrast of the two energetic 

 little characters. One of them was selfish and greedy, 

 and, however liberal the supply of food presented — 

 even though it were three times as much as he could 

 possibly eat — always wanted all for himself. Jumping 

 into the middle of the plate, he would stand — a 

 miniature dog in the manger — noisily defending the 

 contents against his gentler brother, whom he would 

 attack and bite savagely if he ventured near. The 

 other was a far nobler and finer character ; and, thouo-h 

 he too could " bark and bite " on occasion in an equally 

 unbrotherly manner, it was no such base, material 



