CREATURES OF THE WILDERNESS 201 



the pieces of leather tied over the knees and 

 thighs of the Agagir. And now it was that 

 ' Bashom, ' having outdistanced the barb 

 horses of the rest, had drawn within five yards 

 of the bull's near hind leg, when a powerful 

 backward kick from that limb gave his rider 

 a useful hint to ride wide that he was prompt 

 to act on. The sword was now unsheathed 

 from its place under the near flap of the saddle, 

 but the giraffe, after delivering other backward 

 kicks just out of reach of the sword-blade, 

 managed to forge ahead. It was enabled 

 to do so by the altered nature of the ground, 

 which was now of that heavy black mould, 

 intersected in every direction by fissures, which 

 the Arabs call mushkok, and which is not 

 unlike the black cotton soil of India. This 

 kind of going, while suited to the large feet 

 of the camel or giraffe, is very liable to bring 

 a horse down unless he is extended at a free 

 gallop. For this reason ' Bashom ' was unable 

 to get abreast of the giraffe's hock, the point 

 of which is more than four feet from the heel. 

 So the giraffe drew ahead and vanished in the 

 forest. The Agagir now came up from behind 

 and unsaddled their horses, and when, in half 

 an hour, the party was joined by the two foot- 

 men, who had followed on their tracks, man 

 and beast drank with relish, though sparingly. 

 The veterans now surveyed the Arabian horse 

 and sadly gave it as their conviction that his 

 failure to close with his first giraffe was due to 

 timidity. He might, they admitted, be gifted 

 with a surprising turn of speed, but he lacked 



