182 HERD OF ZEBRAS. 



crossing the open plain in large herds. On one oc- 

 casion some fresh elephant spoor almost tempted me 

 to follow it np, but as I knew Mr. Young would be 

 off early next morning, I relinquished the idea, and 

 made up my mind to get to the boat as soon as possi- 

 ble, in order to have everything I wanted in readiness 

 for the walk down to the mouth of the river. The 

 day was very hot, and about three o'clock my men 

 asked for a halt to rest. This was granted, and soon 

 fires were made, and some meat brought by them 

 from the boat was quickly roasted and dispatched. 

 They now said they were tired and should have a 

 sleep ; so looking at my watch, I gave them half an 

 hour for that purpose, and as we were in a patch of 

 forest, I strolled about with my rifle. 



Shortly after I left the party I saw a large herd of 

 zebras, and stalked to within a hundred and twenty 

 yards of them. These beautiful creatures were grazing 

 in an open space in the sun, so I sat down to watch 

 them. They knew nothing of my presence, and I might 

 have easily killed any one of them, but I let them be ; 

 though had a fine pair of horns adorning the head of 

 even the most graceful antelope stood before me, I 

 would not have trusted myself to exercise so much 

 forbearance. Two were busy biting each other's 

 necks, while the remainder of the herd either grazed 

 quietly around, or stood looking at two of their num- 

 ber that were chasing each other round the spot, their 

 beautifully striped and sleek skins shining brightly in 

 the sun. Time was pressing, and as I had to leave 

 them, I put my fingers to my mouth, and gave a short 

 shrill whistle. In an instant the whole of the startled 



