THE PLAINS. 93 



the heat of the day. As the afternoon advances we see a black bulky figure coming 

 towards us. This is an old warthog, his tusks gleaming white as they catch the sun ; 

 he comes on slowly. He stops every now and again to go down on his fore knees 

 and plough up the ground with his snout, while he propels himself forward with his 

 hind legs. Presently some of the members of our herd begin to graze away again, 

 and we rise one by one and follow suit, till we are all busy at work once more, our 

 heads all pointing in the same direction. We feed in this way, advancing slowly a 

 step or two at a time, till we cross a little rise and draw near a reed-bed in the next 

 bottom. A female serval cat passes with a ground-rat in her mouth, carrying it 

 carefully home to some young who are probably concealed in the reeds. This is an 

 anxious time for her, and she advances stealthily from bush to bush and by a 

 circuitous route so as not to betray the locality which she has chosen for the 

 concealment of her offspring. As we pass close to the reeds there is suddenly a 

 grunt and a roar. We turn to fly, but not before one of our number has been caught 

 by the nostrils and his head pulled down between his legs. He falls forward on the 

 top of his head, as he is trying to gallop away, and his neck breaks with a scrunching 

 sound. We gallop off a short distance, but, finding that we are not being pursued, 

 we watch for a while and then continue grazing. It is not long before a few kites 

 come circling round, whilst higher up, like specks in the sky, are hovering vultures, 

 but they will have to await till the morrow for their feed. On a small ant-hill are a 

 number of little figures busily popping in and out of their hole in a great state of 

 excitement. It is a colony of the slender mungoose, that live there. They have killed 

 a snake and are making passage way for the head, which they are carrying into their 

 house to pick at leisure. 



Round the edge of the reed-bed a black object is running forward a few paces at 

 a time and then stopping to look round and then running on again. This is the marsh 

 mungoose out looking for his dinner of crabs. He is out early to-day, for it is seldom 

 that he leaves his retreat till dusk. A large flock of sandgrouse come flying over, 

 on their way back to the stony hills where they spend the night. 



And now, as the sun slowly sinks, all things are preparing for the night's 

 doings. The lions give a few preparatory roars, and the great herds of game 

 pack closer together for the night's grazing. But we feel safe enough to-night, 

 for there is a blind kongoni, whose attempts to run away consist of going 

 round in ever-narrowing circles. If we keep close enough to him we shall be 

 safe enough, for he is cut out for a lion's kill. For this is the law of the plains, 

 there is no place for the weak, the maimed, and the ailing, and they are given to 

 the lion or the hy.'ena. Even among some races of human beings their unfortunates 



