THE LAST FRONTIER 



among the zebra, I naturally expected that we would 

 pull up the buckboard, descend, and approach to 

 within some sort of long range. Then we would 

 open fire. Barring luck, the wildebeeste would 

 thereupon depart "wilder and beestier than ever," 

 as John McCutcheon has it. Not at all! Michael, 

 the Hottentot, turned the buckboard off the road, 

 headed toward the distant quarry, and charged at 

 full speed! Over stones we went that sent us feet 

 into the air, down and out of shallow gullies that 

 seemed as though they would jerk the pole from the 

 vehicle with a grand rattlety-bang, everyone hang- 

 ing on for his life. I was entirely occupied with the 

 state of my spinal column and the retention of my 

 teeth, but McMillan must have been keeping his 

 eye on the game. One peculiarity of the wildebeeste 

 is that he cannot see behind him, and another is 

 that he is curious. It would not require a very large 

 bump of curiosity, however, to cause any animal to 

 wonder what all the row was about. There could 

 be no doubt that this animal would sooner or later 

 stop for an instant to look for the purpose of seeing 

 what was up in jungleland; and just before doing so 

 he would, for a few steps, slow down from a gallop to 

 a trot. McMillan was watching for this symptom. 



"Now!" he yelled, when he saw it. 



Instantly Michael threw his weight into the right 



384 



