244. 
IN AFRICA 
in order to swing him in the right direction. The 
ground was deep with prairie grass, as dry as 
tinder, and scattered throughout were innumerable 
holes in the ground made by the ant-bears and wart- 
hogs. Any one of these holes was enough to throw 
a horse head over heels if he went into it. I had no 
gun, having left it with my gunhearer when I took 
the picture. So there was nothing to hinder me as 
we swept across the great plain. 
We passed the camp half a mile away at a furi¬ 
ous pace, the giraff e holding his own with the horse 
and keeping too far in front to he turned. By 
degrees we approached the prairie fire and the 
flames were leaping up three or four feet in a line 
many hundred yards long. The giraffe hesitated 
and then breasted the walls of fire; I didn’t know 
whether my horse would take the salamander leap 
or not, and as we rushed down toward it I half- 
expected that he would stop suddenly and send me 
flying over his shoulders. But he never wavered. 
The excitement of the chase was upon him and he 
took the leap like an antelope. There was a mo¬ 
ment of blinding smoke, a burning blast of air, and 
then we were galloping madly on across the black¬ 
ened dust where the fire had already swept. 
For two miles I galloped the giraffe, vainly en¬ 
deavoring to swing him around, but once a swamp 
retarded me and another time a low hill shut the 
giraffe from view. When I passed the hill he had 
disappeared and could not be found again. There 
was no deep regret at having lost him, for I felt 
