cH. XII] A GIRAFFE CHASE 329 



the herd got under way he wounded the big bull. 

 Away went the tall creatures, their tails twisting and 

 curling, as they cantered along over the rough veldt 

 and among the thorn bushes, at that gait of theirs 

 which looks so leisurely and which yet enables them to 

 cover so much ground. After them we tore, Kermit 

 and Tarlton in the lead ; and a fine chase we had. It 

 was not until we had sfone two or three miles that the 

 })ull lagged behind the herd. I was riding the tranquil 

 sorrel, not a speedy horse, and by this time my weight 

 was telling on him. Kermit and his horse had already 

 turned a somersault, having gone into an ant-bear hole, 

 which the tall grass concealed ; but they were up and 

 off in an instant. All Tranquillity's enthusiasm had 

 vanished, and only by constant thumping with lieels 

 and gun butt could I keep him at a slow hand gallop, 

 and in sight of the leaders. We came to a slight rise, 

 where the rank grass grew high and thick ; and Tran- 

 (|uillity put both his fore-legs into an ant-bear hole, and 

 with obvious relief rolled gently over on liis side. It 

 was not really a tumble ; he hailed the ant-bear burrow 

 as offering a way out of a chase in which he had grown 

 to take less than no interest. Besides, he really was 

 winded, and wjien we got up I could barely get him 

 into a canter; and I saw no more of the run. Mean- 

 while Kermit and Tarlton raced alongside the wounded 

 bull, one on each Hank, and started him toward camp, 

 which was about five miles from where the hunt began. 

 Two or three times he came to a standstill, and turned 

 first toward one and then toward the other of his 

 pursuers, almost as if he meditated a charge ; but they 

 shouted at him and he resumed his flight. They 

 brought him within three hundred yards of camp, and 

 then Kermit leaped off and finished him. 



