AFRICA 



twenty zebra near enough the chosen spot. Any 

 of them would do. 



But the zebra did not give a hoot for Scallywat- 

 tamus. At five hundred yards three or four of them 

 awoke with a start, stared at us a minute, and moved 

 slowly away. They told all the zebra they happened 

 upon that the three idiots approaching were at 

 once uninteresting and dangerous. At four hun- 

 dred and fifty yards a half dozen more made off at a 

 trot. At three hundred and fifty yards the rest 

 plunged away at a canter — all but one. He re- 

 mained to stare, but his tail was up, and we knew he 

 only stayed because he knew he could easily catch 

 up in the next twenty seconds. 



The chance was very slim of delivering a knockout 

 at that distance, but we badly needed meat, anyway, 

 after our march through the Thirst, so I tried him. 

 We heard the well-known plunk of the bullet, but 

 down went his head, up went his heels, and away 

 went he. We watched him in vast disgust. He 

 cavorted out into a bare open space without cover 

 of any sort, and then flopped over. I thought I 

 caught a fleeting grin of delight on Mavrouki's face; 

 but he knew enough instantly to conceal his satis- 

 faction over sure meat. 



There were now no zebra anywhere near; but since 

 nobody ever thinks of omitting any chances in 



27 



