98 A TIMELY ARRIVAL. 



Still closer came the head until it was so nigh that Bob shoved himself further 

 out on the limb, intending to swing his arm and frighten the animal into preserving 

 a respectful distance ; but the youth forgot that the branch on which he was rest- 

 ing was already taxed to its utmost. 



The consequence was, that it snapped off like a pipe-stem, close to the trunk, 

 and, in an instant he began his descent through the limbs, to the ground. 



The flurry startled the giraffe into an awkward leap, directly under the descend- 

 ing lad, who struck the giraffe's neck just back of his head, and shot down the whole 

 length of the animal, from head to tail, with the velocity of a sled going down a 

 toboggan slide. 



Bob realized instantly what was coming, and, dropping his gun, instinctively 

 threw out his arms to grasp the neck and stop his accelerating descent. Had it 

 been any other animal, he must have succeeded, but the inclination of the giraffe's 

 body, from his head to his switch of a tail, approached too nearly the perpendicular 

 to permit. 



Faster and faster went the youth, despite his efforts of resistance, until he shot 

 off the spine of the startled animal with such momentum as to strike the ground a 

 dozen feet distant, where he made a backward somersault, just in time to escape 

 the vicious kick of the giraffe's hind foot, which, had it landed, would have done 

 serious damage. 



Before Bob could clamber to nis feet, the sharp crack of a Winchester sounded 

 on the air, and the huge giraffe made a frantic lunge forward, falling dead on his 

 face, his brain pierced by a shot from the rifle of Jack Harvey, who dashed forward 

 the next moment on his mustang, and with his lasso whizzing about his head. 



For Bob was not mistaken in believing there were others of the same kind be- 

 neath the tree which he had climbed. There were a female and two young, the 

 mother grazing from the branches so much lower down that the youth had not seen 

 her head. The young were feeding still lower, that is, they were imbibing their 

 mother's milk, while she was helping herself to the vegetation. 



Even in that exciting moment, the hunters were touched by the sight. The mother 

 stared around in a bewildered way, and then, with a vague consciousness of her 

 danger, started off, with her offspring trotting at her side. 



But she went only a few paces, when the merciless coil settled round her neck, 

 and she was jerked backward with such force that she fell on her side, where she 

 kicked and struggled violently for several minutes. 



" Don't kill her ! " called Bob, his heart full of pity for the young ones, too much 

 stupefied by the calamity to flee. 



" I don't want to," replied Jack, leaping to the ground, " but we've got our hands 

 full. Where the deuce is Pongo ? " 



The Bushman at that moment bounded from among the trees on foot. He ran 

 forward to the struggling giraffe, and, halting by its head, jumped up and down, 

 swung his arms, and emitted a series of the most hideous sounds that caa be im- 

 agined. 



