1 66 LODGES IN THE WILDERNESS 



has to follow a method opposite to that fol- 

 lowed in the case of all other game. If one 

 got their wind, failure was a foregone con- 

 clusion, for the oryx cannot run down the 

 wind. To keep up the necessary supply of 

 oxygenated blood to his mighty muscles he 

 must run — his wide nostrils expanded like 

 funnels — against the air-current. Should he 

 attempt to run down the wind he would 

 smother when hard pressed. This both he and 

 the hunter know, so the great art in the noble 

 sport of oryx-hunting lies in manoeuvring so 

 as to prevent the game from taking the only 

 course on which his powers will have full play. 



The day promised to be hot; when the 

 Kalihari wind blows in summer there is no 

 possibility of cool weather in the desert. We 

 advanced at a walking pace, for the strength of 

 our horses had to be conserved against that 

 long pursuit which, in hunting the oryx, is 

 almost inevitable. The heat grew greater 

 every moment. The morning was at seven; 

 what would the sunshine be like at noon? 



We reached the western limit of the ridge, — 

 where the gentle slope merged itself almost im- 

 perceptibly into the plain. This was the junc- 

 ture at which to exercise caution; one false 

 move then, and our day would have been 



