The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-28

/ MIN. But Hanger
! is very slight \ man who Is well mount
| ed and can stand a little scratching is
nearly certain to bring his quarry down.
My second hunt was. I suppose fairly
typical. We set out soon after daybreak
from our skerm near athe banks of the
Botletli, my companion and I and a cOu-
pie Of Masarwa bushmen. The bushmen
trotted on ahead. carrying our rifles, n
accordance with strict South African Ell
quette, and kept their usual sharp look
out for spoor. AS the morning grew warm,
We took off our coats and laid them across
the saddles, an unwise proceeding as il
turned out. For three hours we kept up
this wearisome walk, with nothing more
cheerful to look upon than the exasperat-
ing yelowish- grass and gray, san
dy soil that make the kalahari desert as
depressing to the eye as London on a
Sunday. How welcome in this wilderness
of yellow was the occasional bright green
leaf of the giraffe acacia just newly
sprouttng. An uuchanging pale-blue sky
above, endless stretches of desert below.
the shriveled mopani trees with their look
of brown desolation, here and there some
low haak-doorn bush and a clump or
acacia-nOt even my companions clever
talk, nor a pipe of excellent Transvaal to-
bacco, nor the stir and hum Of unknown
insects, nor the flash Of strange wings,
could quite outweigh their communicate
ing sense of hopelessness and detection
We off-saddled for twenty minutes at
the end of the three hours and refreshed
ourselves with biscuits and water. Then
on again with some certainty of striking
spoor at last. The country was changing
Its aspect. Low forests of giraffe acacia
with park-like glades of grass and patches
of the inevitable haak-doorn had taken
the place of the dread desert. Suddenly
one of the bushmen in front-a lean, wiry
fellow about five feet two In hight-stop-
ped motionless over something on the
ground. 1t was the gigantic imprint, ten
inches long, of a giraffe bull, newly cut.
Our rifles were handed TO us, and We went
cautiously forward. Again the bushman
stopped and pointed, and there 2JO yards
away I saw grand herd of five CRATES
quietly cropping the tender leaves of their
favorte acacia fifteen feet and
more from the ground. With
their long necks stretched to the
uttermost, they made beautiful, an in
toxicating sight. They caught our wind
moment after, and turned around uneasi-
ly TO inspect us. Then, headed by the
fine old bull whose spoor we had first
tracked, they made quickly for the for
est. A giraffe's pace is wonderfully de-
ceptive. He seems to be merely amblng
along with his awkward pacing gate, but
1t takes very good horse to run one
down. Calling on our nags with spur and
sjambok. we tried to head them off into
the open welt But they were too quick
for us and we had to follow as best we
could through the forest into which they
dashed. Their tough skins cleared an easy
path through the bush, but our horses
TANKS and our own persons were out
rageously scratched.
1t was then we began to wish we had
not taken off our coats. Seventy yards
ahead of us we could see our quarry dodg-
ing the trees in bewildering fashion and
bending their necks so low at times that
we all but lost sight of them. At last they
burst into the open, and we settled down
for a short heart-bursting race, Realizing
that things were getting serious, the gil
RATES. changed their pacing gait into a
gallop. bringing their hind legs, one on
each side, in front of the fore legs. Their
tails were corkscrewed over their backs,
! and their necks bobbed up and down like
a ships masts on a stormy sea. They
were evidently putting in all they knew
but the effort was made too late. Jump
ing off almost simultaneously fif-
ty yards behind, my companion
and 1 planted bullets just above
the roots of the tails of the two
| nearest cows. Their pace elackened to a
stagger, and another bullet brought them
down with a magnificent crash. Seven
teen feet one and seventeen feet six they
/ measured from the hoops to the tip of
the false horns Our bushmen came run
| ming up on our spoor, and before another
| two hours were past the heads, hoofs and
! tails were neatly taken Off the meat pack
| ed on the horses and the brazen skins an
! inch to an inch and quarter thick folded
| away.
1t was terribly hard work. and the re-
turn to camp was long and wearisome
! business. But no labor is wasted when
| the marrow-boue and steaks of a fine gil
raffe COW are the reward So at least we
thought as we smoked our pipes that
evening and watched the natives dancing
around their fire, and listened to the Mas
| arwas describing the incidents of the days
hunt to their brethren. Poor follows, 1t
was long time since they had had such
feast. They, at any rate, will be any
thing but pleased to hear that the giraffe
! is to be preserved.