210 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP. 



were employed on the earth works, and who at once 

 entered with great zest into the spirit of the scheme. 

 After having partially surrounded the herd, the half- 

 circle of coolies began to advance with wild shouts, 

 whereupon the zebras galloped madly about from 

 side to side, and then did just what we wished them 

 to do made straight for an exceptionally boggy 

 part of the ground, where they soon became more 

 or less helpless. We singled out a few young ones 

 and succeeded in running them to an absolute stand- 

 still, when we threw them down and sat on their 

 heads until the other men came up with ropes. In 

 this way we captured no less than six : they were 

 very wild and fractious, giving us a great deal of 

 trouble in getting them along, but eventually \ve 

 managed to bring them in triumph to the camp 

 where they were firmly secured. The whole expe- 

 dition lasted little more than a couple of hours. 



Three of the captured zebras I kept for myself, 

 while the other three were given to the Surfacing 

 Engineer, whose men had assisted in the hunt. 

 Two of my three unfortunately died very shortly 

 after ; but the third, a sturdy two-year-old, flourished 

 splendidly. At first he was exceedingly vicious, 

 biting and kicking everyone who approached him ; 

 indeed, he once planted both his hind feet on my 

 chest, but did me no serious damage beyond throw- 

 ing me heavily to the ground. In time, however, 



