224 



FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



when, if startled, it flew past me like an arrow. " Look, sir, there, 

 in front of you in the nearest bush is a little antelope; it is down 

 there in the gap between the two thickly-leaved branches," whis- 

 pered my native guide in my ear. I strained every nerve, penetrated 

 every part of the bush with my gaze, and saw nothing but branches 

 and leaves, for the graceful legs had become twigs, the head and 

 body a leafy bough. But 

 the sportsman's eye be- 

 comes accustomed in time 

 even to the primeval 

 forest. When one has 

 become familiar with the 

 dainty creature's habits, 

 one learns to find it as 

 well as the sharp-sighted 

 natives do. Its acute 

 hearing warns it of the 

 approach of a man long 

 before he can see any 

 trace of its presence. 

 Scared by the rustle of 

 heavy human footsteps it 

 starts up from its lair, 

 takes a few steps for- 

 wards, and steps into some 

 gap from which to see 

 what happens. Like a bronze statue it stands stiff and motion- 

 less, without even moving an ear or turning an eye, but looking 

 and listening; the leg which was raised to step onwards remains in 

 that position, not a sign betrays life. Now is the time for the 

 sportsman to raise his gun quickly, take aim and shoot; a moment 

 later the cunning antelope has gained the cover of a neighbouring 

 bush at a single bound, or has bent slowly down and crept away so 

 quietly that scarcely a leaf stirs, scarcely a blade of grass moves. 



The primeval forest thus presents a succession of varied pictures 

 to the traveller's eye. If one has learnt to see, and attempts to 



Fig. 33. Salt's Antelope (Antilope Saltiana). 



