made but a few hours before.

Under the excitement of extreme fortune, whether it be good or bad,
people do not act with much wisdom.

So thought Hendrik as he called the attention of Willem to the fact that
they had started out for the purpose of finding the spoor but not
following it; that they would require the help of Congo and Spoor'em;
that they must provide themselves with food and other articles necessary
for a two or three days' journey.

Believing that, by the time they could go back to the house and return,
the giraffes would gain a distance of not less than ten or fifteen
miles, Hendrik's suggestions seemed absurd, and his companion, without
heeding them, kept on along the trail.

Hendrik and Arend could do nothing but follow. Before they had gone
very far, Arend made the observation that the tracks they were now
following appeared too large to have been made by the young giraffes.

"That's all a fancy of yours," rejoined Willem, as he hurried on.

"There appears to have been only one that went this way," said Hendrik,
after they had gone a little farther.

"Never mind," answered Willem, "we have no time to look for the other.
It won't be far away from its companion, and we shall probably find them
together."

Notwithstanding what Willem said, his comrades were convinced that they
were following the track of only one giraffe, and that larger than
either of those that had been lost. They again ventured to give their
opinion about it.

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Willem. "There has not been a giraffe in this
part of the country for the last ten years, except the two we ourselves
brought here."

This statement would have been indorsed by every settler for a hundred
miles around. For all that, it was a wrong one, as our adventurers soon
had reason to be convinced.

Before they had gone another mile, the large body and lofty head of a
giraffe loomed up before their eyes! On seeing it, they put spurs to
their horses and rode straight toward it. They got within about three
hundred yards of it before their approach was discovered.

For the first ten minutes of the chase that then ensued, the distance
between the hunters and the retreating giraffe remained about the same.

Gradually it began to diminish. The giraffe appeared to become
exhausted with only a slight exertion; and on reaching a piece of marshy
ground, where its feet sunk into the mud, it made a violent struggle and
then fell over on its