the boy, as the dog set up a furious barking,
and joined in the rush that was made by the brothers, who succeeded in
pinning down the bird. Emson holding the legs, while avoiding a buffet
from the uppermost wing, Dyke slipped the rope round the bone, dragged
down the head, and after a furious struggle, the bird lay still.

"Think you can manage now?" panted Dyke, who was hot from exertion.

"Yes; I'll tie his legs together, after setting the broken one. It's
the only chance for him."

"Yes; it's all right," cried Dyke; "he's getting weaker, and giving in."

"Seems like it," said his brother sarcastically, for as the boy spoke,
the great bird began to beat with its wings with terrific violence,
keeping it up for fully five minutes, and giving the pair a hard task to
hold it down, while the Kaffir looked on calmly enough, and the dog kept
on charging in, as if eager to seize one of the legs, and hold it still.

"Well, there then, he is giving in now," panted Dyke, who had been
compelled to put forth all his strength to keep from being thrown off by
the violent buffeting of the bird's wings. "Look sharp, and get it
done."

Dyke got one hand at liberty now to wipe the feather-down from his face,
where the perspiration made it adhere, and as he looked up, he could not
refrain from laughing aloud at the row of comical flat heads peering
over the wire fence, where the ostriches in the pen were gathered
together to look on.

"Yes," said Emson gravely; "he is giving in now, poor brute. He'll
never hunt the young cocks round the enclosure again."

"And they know it, too," cried Dyke. "Look at them wagging their silly
old heads and trying to look cunning.--But hullo why don't you go on?"

"Can't you see?" said Emson. "The horse's hoofs must have struck him in
the side as well. The poor old goblin is dead."

Dyke leaped to his feet in dismay, and stared sceptically from his
brother to the bird, and back again and again.

It was true enough: the great bird, which so short a time ago was
seeming to spin with such wonderful speed across the veldt that its legs
were nearly invisible, now lay on its side, with the stilt-like members
perfectly still, one being stretched out to its full length, the other
in a peculiar double angle, through the broken bone making a fresh
joint.

"Oh, the poor old goblin!" said the boy, hurriedly unloosening the rein
which held down its head. "I didn't choke it, did I? No: look, the
l