PRIMEVAL MAN 201 



river at this point from both banks. As I sat 

 and watched, a herd of zebra approached 

 cautiously from the opposite side. There were 

 in it representatives of two species of these 

 gaudily marked wild horses or wild asses, the 

 common zebra and the much, bigger northern 

 zebra with longer ears and more numerous 

 and narrower stripes. The herd advanced, 

 avoiding cover as much as possible, continually 

 halting, once wheeling and galloping back, ever 

 seeking with eye and nostril some token of the 

 presence of their maned and tawny foe. At 

 last the leader walked down through a break 

 in the bank to the river. The others crowded 

 close behind, jostling one another as they sank 

 their muzzles in the water. For a moment 

 fear left them, and they satisfied their thirst, 

 and those that were through first then stood 

 while the rearmost drank greedily. But as 

 soon as one of them began to move back to 

 the shore the others became uneasy and fol 

 lowed, and the whole herd broke into a gallop 

 and tore off for a couple of hundred yards. 

 Looking at them it was easy enough to bring 

 before one s eyes the tragedy of the preceding 

 night; the herd nearing the water, wary, but not 

 wary enough, the panic flight as the lion dashed 

 among them, the struggling and the neighing 



