CH. VI] KONGONl AND ZEBRA 129 



together, he stationed me among some tliin thorn- 

 buslies on a little knoll, and drove the game })y me, 

 hoping to get me a sliot at some wildebeest. The 

 scattered thorn-bushes were only four or five feet 

 high, and so thin that there was no difficulty in looking 

 through them and marking every movement of the 

 game as it approached. The wildebeest took the wrong 

 direction and never came near me, though they certainly 

 fared as badly as if they had done so, for they passed by 

 Kermit, and it was on this occasion that he killed the 

 big bull. A fine cock ostrich passed me and I much 

 wished to shoot at him, but did not hke to do so, 

 because ostrich-farming is one of the staple industries 

 of the region, and it is not well to have even the wild 

 birds shot. The kongoni and the zebra streamed by 

 me, herd after herd, hundreds and hundreds of them, 

 many passing within fifty yards of my shelter, now on 

 one side, now on the other ; they went at an easy lope, 

 and I was interested to see that many of the kongoni 

 ran with their mouths open. This is an attitude which 

 we usually associate with exhaustion, but such cannot 

 have been the case with the kongoni— they had merely 

 cantered for a mile or so. The zebra were, as usual, 

 noisy, a number of them uttering their barking neigli 

 as they passed. I do not know liow it is ordinarily, but 

 "these particular zebra— all stallions, by the way— kept 

 their mouths open throughout the time they were 

 neighing, and their ears pricked forward ; they did not 

 ^eep their mouths open while merely galloping, as did 

 the kongoni. We had plenty of meat, and the naturalists 

 iiad enough specimens ; and I was glad that there was 

 10 need to harm the beautiful creatures. They passed 

 lo close that I could mark every slight movement, and 

 .the ripple of the muscles under the skin. The very 



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