64 LODGES IN THE WILDERNESS 



consideration I ventured to light my pipe. 

 There was no wind; even had there been the 

 ostrich has no sense of smell, — and on that day 

 I was not looking for buck. Even had an oryx 

 approached and sniffed at me, I would have let 

 him go scathless. An ostrich, and a super- 

 excellent one at that, was what I wanted. No 

 breeding bird with plumes discoloured through 

 contact with the sand, but a young, lusty, un- 

 married male with peerless adornment of foam- 

 white plumes, — the crowning result of a long 

 period of selection, — developed by unrestricted 

 Nature for the all-wise end of making him 

 comely in the eyes of the female of his species. 



It was now day, although the sun was not yet 

 visible. I was in my shirt-sleeves, having left 

 my jacket at the camp. The faint wind of 

 morning was chill, the dew-soaked ground 

 dank and cold. I longed for the sun to rise, 

 albeit well knowing that after it had risen my 

 discomfort from heat would be intense, and 

 that I would look back to the hour of the dew 

 and the dawn with vain regret. 



Cautiously and very slowly I lifted my head 

 until my eyes could search the plain in the 

 direction from which Hendrick was operating. 

 But I hardly expected to see him yet. Void, 

 cold, passionless and austere the still-sleeping 



