WHO’S WHO IN JUNGLELAND 
243 
quite a common thing to run across groups of these 
strange-looking animals browsing among the trees. 
One is not allowed to kill a giraffe except under 
a special license, which costs one hundred and fifty 
rupees, or fifty dollars. One of our party had a 
commission to secure a specimen for a collector and 
had been unsuccessful in getting it. That circum¬ 
stance led to an amusing adventure that I had with 
a giant giraffe. One day, with my gunbearers, I 
had ridden out from camp in search of wild pigs. 
Ten minutes after leaving camp I drew rein hastily, 
for off to my left and in front a lone giraffe of 
great size and of splendid black color was slowly 
careening along toward me. If he continued in 
his course and did not see us he would pass within 
a hundred yards of me. So I hastily but quietly 
dismounted to try for a photograph as he passed. 
A moment or two later he saw me for the first 
time and at once swung into a funny trot. I took 
the picture, and then the thought struck me, “Why 
not drive him into camp, where he could be secured 
by the one having a special license?” I jumped on 
my horse and galloped around him, but in a few 
moments struck a ravine so rocky that I had to walk 
my horse through the worst of it. By the time I 
had crossed the giraffe was some hundred yards 
ahead. Still farther ahead the prairie was burning 
and the long line of fire extended a mile or more 
across our front. 
I thought this fire would swing the giraffe off, 
and so it became a race to reach the fire line first, 
