CREATURES OF THE WILDERNESS 203 



his own line, headed straight for the giraffe, 

 brushing through the thorns as if they were 

 bullfinches, and taking every fallen tree-trunk 

 in his stride. A new element was now intro- 

 duced into this extraordinary chase in the 

 shape of four hartebeest, of dark chestnut 

 colour, which, startled out of a patch of scrub 

 by the fugitive giraffe, joined in the procession 

 until the strong running of the riderless Arabian 

 scattered them to right and left. Ahmet, once 

 more to the fore, now feared that the runaway 

 might cross him at the critical moment and 

 made one or two futile cuts with his hide-whip 

 in the hope of turning the animal from his 

 course ; but ' Bashom, ' with a snort of defiance, 

 rushed headlong at the giraffe as if he meant 

 to ride it off to the right from the near side. 

 The terrified creature did, in fact, swerve to 

 the right, but, in so doing, managed to deliver 

 a knock-down blow with its near hind leg, 

 which came home on the shoulder with such 

 effect that poor ' Bashom ' turned over on his 

 back as if he had been shot. Yet he had 

 achieved his object, for the giraffe's turn to the 

 right undoubtedly sealed its fate. It was 

 overtaken, the sword flashed from its scabbard, 

 and a sweeping blow from the blade severed 

 the hamstring, while a simultaneous twist to 

 the left saved ' Blue Fire ' from being crushed 

 as the bull toppled over. As the hunters dis- 

 mounted to give the coup de grdce^ a sorry 

 object trotted past the fallen foe. It was 

 * Bashom,' dead lame, covered with mud, and 

 with the saddle turned round on his left flank, 



