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its legs again and scurried back to the mountains. I found 

 some traces of blood, and searched for it a little while with no 

 success ; time, too, was pressing, for twilight had already 

 begun, and I had .U> hurry off to the right place for the 

 hyaenas. 



Guided by the Arab, I rode through the desert, which kept 

 widening out into the plain, until I reached a little sand-hill. 

 The ambush w r as well chosen, and the dead donkey on the 

 white sand was visible a long way off. 



The mountains rose in misty outlines ; the yellow desert 

 looked interminable, and a profound silence reigned over all 

 the monotonous surroundings. We heard several jackals 

 prowling about, and even saw them flit by like shadows, \vhile 

 I once even made out the form of a wolf, but the much- 

 desired Hyaena did not appear. 



The proper time for this shy creature does not begin until 

 about an hour after midnight ; but by eleven o'clock I was 

 again so overcome by sleep that I could no longer struggle 

 against it and left the ambush, the Arab dismissing me with a 

 reproachful look and sitting down again to watch. 



It was a long but beautiful ride that I now began, and the 

 moonlit nights of Egypt are among the most charming of 

 the recollections that I have carried away from the land of 

 the Pharaohs. The huge Colossi loomed grand and ghostly 

 by night among the fields ; and near the Nile a wolf ran by 

 within a few yards, but unluckily my gun was not loaded. 

 It was at a very late hour that I reached the steamer and 

 my long-desired rest. 



On the morning of the 12th we all rode again to Medinet 

 Abu by the same road. Large flocks of storks were stand- 

 ing on the sandbanks and by the pools, as well as snipe and 

 sandpipers, at which I shot from the back of my donkey. 



After an hour's ride we arrived at the village, where the 

 Arab sportsman was waiting to tell us that the Hyaena had at 



