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286 



GIRAFFE HUNTING, 



his subordinates, a moment after he was on his feet 

 with all his followers at his back, and as pretty 

 a little faction fight ensued as ever was witnessed. 

 A big fellow made a dash at me, but the Massara 

 felled him with a yoke-key. Things were now 

 getting rather mixed, and I commenced to fear that 

 I should have to take an active hand in the scrimmage, 

 when fortune decided in our favour by the second 

 driver knocking down the ringleader, and my favour- 

 ite dog laying hold of another — and sticking to his 

 grip — on the calf of his leg. The yells of fear, and I 

 daresay pain, too, that came from the last individual 

 were heartrending, as well as demoralizing, for 

 instantaneously all beat a hasty retreat, with the 

 exception of the primary cause of the disturbance, 

 who very much against his will remained a prisoner 

 in our hands. I ordered him to be secured to one of 

 the hind waggon wheels, 'ere to remain until I 

 decider what was to be his punishment. I believe 

 the fellow thought that he was going to be killed at 

 the very least, and I know that several of my followers 

 informed him that such would be his inevitable fate. 

 I must acknowledge that big a scoundrel as he in- 

 evitably was, he stood the ordeal with such praise- 

 worthy sangfroid as would inevitably have made him 

 a martyr in a Christian country, if he had been the 

 victim of religious persecution. 



By the struggling moonbeam's misty light, aided 

 by two cotton wicks, taken from the skirt of the last 

 of my " Sunday go-to-meeting " shirts, stuck in fat, 

 I took my seat at my table. In front of me stood 

 the prisoner secured with rhehns, guarded on either 

 side by two of my strongest henchmen, while beside 

 me sat a mixed jury, composed of both my own 

 people and several of the tribesmen of the culprit. 

 The evidence was abundant, and to the point, that he 

 struck the first blow, and by so doing had imperilled 

 the peace and endangered the success of my expedi- 



