Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-17

focks of eagles and vu1tures lowered over us.
Finally one afternoon reached Khp-fontein,
where huge black rock towering to height OF two
hundred feet stands out in solitary s>~.
aesty the plain. In the sha-
dow of the rock little store, 49,
and after turning the donkeys loose
to Craze started toward it, to pay ~
my respects to its keeper, who, sH
despite the fact that white men
were rare visitors, had not taken A "a
the trouble to come out to greet us, t.s~-v1s y
but had merely stood staring stol-
idly in the doorway, and then had
disappeared within. There n
apparently no other human being fs9f
about the place; but when | was 81 b
about fifty yards away from the M
house my attention sud- <fI#3
denly drawn to huge ostrich, ~ 4
which was coming with long %EC3
strides in my direction. l 70
quickened my pace. So did the III
ostrich l began to The M
big bird did the same, and %J1{F<5
when l bounded in through
the door it at the STEP aess
Great heavens" l ex- foeH
claimed to the old man. that 81 -
bird of yours is menace to go
human life and liberty, and T., 49,
should be shot at once" go
1t is So, answered the ~ -
ph1egnatic Boer, picking UP a 49,
long whip and starting out.
The whip had evidently been ss.s.
used before, because the
trich on seeing it, trOtted off d
toward our camp, where the
race for life. Now, however, it was their
turn to run. They lost no time about it. but
fled for the trees, with the long legged bird
IN hot pursuit, and clambered up into the
branches with agility that would have done
credit to the monkeys we had seen.
>. The ostrich now turned its attention toward
the donkeys and / became much alarmed
because the disembowelment of one or more of them
would be great calamity to us. The bird approached
Jack best donkey and when the latter instead of
running, met it face to face, it suddenly thrust out
leg in blow that would have split skull if it had
landed squarely. The sharp toes grazed the end
of Jacks nose as he threw back his head The blood
spurted, and he whirled about and shot out with
both feet. The ostrich jumped back in astonish-
ment, and then came toward the store again.
Happier in a Tree
NOW'S your chancel" shouted to the inmates
OF the trees: Make break to camp for a
gun and shoot it.
Thank we kindly, old chap; but we're 'appier
'ere! called back LAWYER, who originally hailed
from London.
l then told the Boer that my friends couldn't
spend the night in the trees nor I besieged in the
store, and that he must kill his bird He answered
that he would stop the trouble and taking his whip
again. finally drove the ostrich into the kraa where
the murderous creature safely nclosed for the
night
Our shoes having become so worn that we were
literally in our bare feet, put the old man in good
humor that evening by buying for each of us pair
of ammunition boots' which are made of leather
so hard and stiff that it is like wood but which are
on this account, an excellent protection against
snakes and thorns. He walked out with us little
way when we started the next morning, and re-
peated the warnings we had heard so often.
Alter losing a day because Our feet became
and swollen from the new boots that had to rest,
came, within week, to the gloomy banks of the
Limpopo, beyond which stretched the country of
our dreams. In the dry the Limpopo or
Crocodile River is harmless little stream, winding
its way among the hills flowing through the veldts
moving peacefully between long reaches of shore