A DESERT NINCOMPOOP 173 



Yes, night on the African veldt can easily get the 

 newcomer. 



' ' Boom-boom-boom-rQ-m ! ' ' 



Of a sudden I was conscious of my friend's real 

 perturbation. His hand on my arm gripped tighter 

 as he pointed with the other in the direction of the 

 sound to which every African traveller becomes so 

 accustomed ; the only other continued night noise be- 

 sides the demented laughing of hyenas. 



I laughed. The African dweller always laughs 

 when he answers this particular question. 



"Ostriches," I explained. " Only ostriches. Their 

 booming is the most common, the most carrying, the 

 most senseless of all animal speech, yes, even more so 

 than that of the crazy hyenas." 



" Boom-boom-boom-m-m ! " again like some gigan- 

 tic bullfrog of the desert. 



Less is known and more is misunderstood, I think, 

 about this huge bird — that isn't a bird — than about 

 almost any other animal in the world. 



There is a pathetic vanity about an ostrich that 

 other animals seem to imderstand far better than 

 man does. An ostrich doesn't walk, he struts; he 

 doesn't scratch, he preens; he doesn't look from side 

 to side, he cocks his head with a silly archness quite 

 in keeping with his whole dude-like personality. 



I remember sitting in my blind one morning at a 

 waterhole waiting for the game to give me the film I 



