44 LODGES IN THE WILDERNESS 



head and charged straight at the intruder. The 

 latter fled, yelping dolorously. The buck, his 

 head still lowered, pursued, and gained easily 

 upon the fugitive who, hard pressed, doubled 

 over and over again on his devious course. At 

 length the jackal took refuge in a burrow, and 

 the buck trotted back to join his mates, who 

 had apparently taken no notice of the incident. 



Hendrick touched me slightly on the 

 shoulder, and uttered a slow " s-s-t." 1 

 glanced to the left ; my heart leaped almost to 

 my throat. There, pacing towards us at a 

 leisurely stroll, was a lordly oryx bull. He 

 was about eight hundred yards off; evidently 

 he had been lying down with his horns con- 

 cealed behind one or other of the bushes that 

 here and there studded the plain. Most likely 

 he was a rogue; an old bull turned out of the 

 herd on account of his bad temper, — or 

 possibly a leader deposed by a rival. However 

 that might have been, he represented meat — 

 a commodity we were badly in need of. Ever 

 and anon the oryx halted and gazed anxiously 

 along the flank of the dune; then he resumed 

 his advance, pacing steadily on a course which 

 should have brought him to within about two 

 hundred yards of our ambush. 



Nearer and nearer the bull approached; he 



