CREATURES OF THE WILDERNESS 169 



of them unexpectedly when they were lying 

 down round a roan antelope that they had 

 killed, and the whole pack immediately sur- 

 rounded him and his orderly, snarling, barking, 

 and making little jumps towards him, but 

 never coming nearer than seven or eight yards. 

 He was, as he readily admits, thoroughly 

 scared, and no wonder, for, as his second gun- 

 bearer had bolted at the first alarm, he had 

 only one weapon a single '400 and, as any- 

 thing short of a Maxim would have been 

 useless against such numbers, it would have 

 been madness to fire. After about ten 

 minutes of what seemed interminable suspense, 

 they drew off, and he bagged one at ninety 

 yards. On his return to camp, the dogs fol- 

 lowed and made a ring round the men of about 

 three hundred yards radius, calling to each 

 other incessantly with a note much like a fox- 

 hound's. Then, at last, they cleared off. Mr. 

 de la Poer quaintly remarks that, in his opinion, 

 if they had not had their kill, his orderly's in- 

 vocations to Allah might not have been heard 

 in time. 



Of hyenas Africa has three kinds spotted, 

 striped, and brown all of them less attractive 

 even than the hunting-dogs, since they are 

 cowardly brutes, terrified of man, though bold 

 enough to kill a sleeping native. Like the 

 kea of New Zealand, hyenas have learnt their 



