get a shot at it."

There, sure enough, was an object moving slowly towards us, apparently
utterly fearless of the fire. Now it began to run exactly as the
ostrich does. Now it stopped and bent its head as if to feed.
Presently it stretched out its neck, and a loud roar, which sounded very
like that of a lion, burst from its throat.

"Do not fire, Mr Crawford," exclaimed Donald; "for if you do, you will
be apt to hit a friend;" and he and Stanley burst into a loud laugh,
echoed by Timbo and some of the black boys near us, and directly
afterwards the seeming ostrich came trotting merrily into the camp.
Some of Donald's servants had been amusing themselves in forming such a
disguise as I have already described, with the hope of catching a bird
or more by means of it on the following day.

While the waggon proceeded onwards the next morning, our friend Donald
again set out, accompanied this time by Chickango, to assist him in
carrying home any game he might procure. They were to proceed on a line
parallel with the caravan, while we ranged at a further distance. We
went some little way together. We were about to separate, when,
standing up, I caught sight of what I took to be the head of an ostrich
in the distance, and we rode towards it. We had not got far when Donald
exclaimed, "There is another! I hope there may be a family of them!"
Directly afterwards we saw the female bird scampering away, and the male
following at some little distance.

"I see no young birds," I observed. "I think you must have been
mistaken."

"They are there, though, notwithstanding," observed my companion. "I
know it by the way they run. Depend upon it, they would be going twice
as fast as that if they were alone."

Putting our horses to their utmost speed, we at length nearly overtook
the ostriches; and then I saw a number of little brown duckling-looking
birds following at the heels of the female ostrich. Greatly to my
surprise, the male ostrich at this moment stopped short, and then
wheeling round, darted off on one side. As we were anxious to obtain
the young as well as the mother, we continued our pursuit of her. On
this he once more put on his utmost speed; but instead of going in a
straight line, kept wheeling round and round us, using every effort to
attract our attention. Instead of increasing, he decreased his circles,
till he got within twenty yards of me, when, to my surprise, over he
fell on the ground, and began