Daily inter mountain., 1899-03-18
CHASED BY A WILD OSTRICH.

CHASED BY A WILD OSTRICH.
The open veldt lay before us, bathed in
the dew and the lingering shades of early
morning as we mounted our horses for
ride across country. Before we had gone,
far, however, my companion was sum-
moned back by the news of the illness Of
a horse, and I continued my ride alone.
AS / advanced mile by mile the scenery
grew wilder, and great rocks, just tinged
with the purple of the sunrise, rose ma
jestically on either side When the road
divided my Basuto pony turned off into a
bride path which led through a wild
gorge and eventually lost itself among the
rocks at the foot of a hill. The sure
footed little creature started up the side
of the mountain and eventually landed
me at the top. Here l dismounted and
left him Craze. We had been out some
hours. Remounting, we followed half
beaten track on the opposite side from
which we had come, and in short time
we We're at the foot of the hill and on the
level weld once more. Going forward in
to the main road (such as it was) which
wound round the base Of the mountain
started off at a quick canter toward
home.
AN AWKWARD PREDICAMENT.
For some time we went along at a good
pace, when suddenly I was startled by the
sight, not far ahead, of cock ostrich
rushing wildly backward and forward,
with its black and white wings Tapping
and quivering with rage | pulled up
with jerk, for at first I thought the bird
was loose on the veld but on closer in
spection l found that a wire fence was.
between us. Just at this moment l saw
on the other side of the camp a hen sit
ting on her nest, and knowing only too
well the danger | was in, ] paused to
! consider what I should do. A short dis
tance in front the road ran close to the
7 q mr.
to pass that way. There was nothing for
/ it but to retrace my steps and follow the
road back round the mountain till 1t
joined the one by which I had come. l
was not afraid, for it was by no means
an uncommon position in which to find
ones self in the centre of an ostrich
farming country, and, besides, felt sure
of getting away. Accordingly, | turned
the pony's head in the opposite direction
and walked quietly back, hoping to es-
cape notice. A few moments passed, and
T began to think we were safe, when sud
denly a strange sound made me look
around. To my horror, l saw that in one
of his wild charges the enormous bird had
! caught sight of us. and making franuc
dashes along the fence, which was unusu-
ally low, and was not of barbed wire. In
few seconds he would be over, and then
it meant a race for dear life My pony
I knew, was one of the quickest in the
country and as we had a good start pos
sibly for short time we should keep
ahead, but in the end l knew the ostrich
must easily catch us.
AS if by instinct my faithful friend
scented danger and after one Whls-
pered word in his ear he was off like the
wind. There was uddenly crash behind
us, followed by a measured beating
which almost made the ground vibrate
and set my heart humping. If you
have never heard the tramp of an in
06 fl
describe it; the nearest approach to it
that I can think of is the sound of the
regular "thud! thud!' of soldiers on the
march. There was no mistake; we were
being pursued by furious cock ostrich
"a formidable foe indeed! Now it was
only a question of time. The ponys feet
seemd scarcely to touch the ground and
bent forward, urging him on feverishly
as I had never done before. Nearer and
nearer came the beating, the distance be-
tween US and our strange pursuer grow
ing less and less every second. l was
powerless to do anything but hold on TO
my flying horse We We're miles away
from any farm in the direction we were
going, and those behind knew nothing
of the terrible danger l was in. Could
there be no help? Alone on the boundless
veldt, looked vaguely up into the blue
sky.
A TIMELY RESCUE THAT COST A
LIFE.
There was a distant shout, and I was
dimly conscious that short heavy ker-
rie whizzed past me. l dared not stop,
for the ostrich was now but few yards
behind and could almost feel the Vibra-
ton of it's great wings as it skinned,
half-fying, half-racing, over the earth.
Presently another kerrie came WhiZZlng
past, and this time it must have inter-
fercd In some way with the progress OF
the great bird, for l could tell it had stop
ped short: and as the chase was not re-
sumed l ventured to look back. My heart
semed to stand still; my head swan, and
| had the greatest difficulty to keep my
seat in the saddle. The infuriated ostrich
had turned and was charging at a Kaftir
who was coming up from the camp IN
pursuit The man saw his danger and
eXcitedly threw kerie after kerrle, Whlch
passed wide of the mark. Vague IDEAS
flashed through my mind of going to ms
help-an absurd idea, of course ana now
impossible. for the pony had become thor
oughly frightened, and was boiling as
|, hard as he could go. There was more
shouting now, and I hoped that others
had come to the rescue, but, glanclng
back again, l saw it was too late-oStrlch
and man had met!
The Kaffir made tremendous spring
, at the long neck of the bird, but he was
too Slow and an awful kick sent the poor
wretch into the air and dropped him Wltn
a thud upon the earth. Before ne mao
, time to recover-if. indeed, ne ever could
the bird was literally dancing upon hlm'
and T shut nv ewes to hide the CHASTITY
Sioht Rv this time several Kaffirs and
a Dutchman had come up, and with a
long lasso they strangled it. dragging it
off the PROSTATE kaftir at the same tlme'
7 never knew how I reached home that
day. For days and nights that gnastly
fght haunted me. and | was troubled by
the thought that the man had practically