258 
IN AFRICA 
Plateau. You couldn’t go half a mile in any direc¬ 
tion without stirring up large family parties of 
them, and a landscape looked lonely unless one 
could see a few oribi bounding over the ant-hills or 
rising and falling as they leaped through the grass. 
When we first went into the plateau the grass was 
long and the oribi were for the most part fleeting 
streaks of yellow over the tops of it, but later when 
we came out the grass had been burned and the 
young, tender grass had spread a green carpet over 
the plains. Then the oribi were visible everywhere, 
usually in groups of four or six. Also the mamma 
oribis had given birth to bouncing baby oribis, and 
the sight of the little ones was most pleasing to the 
eyes. 
One day I was hot on the trail of a big water- 
buck. The grass was deep at that part of the 
plateau and I was pushing rapidly through it. 
Suddenly one of my gunbearers, who was behind, 
called out and pointed to something in the grass. I 
