ld soon have to pass. I therefore laid down my note-book
and rifle, and stood with my watch in hand, ready to note the precise
instants at which he should pass the first and second. By afterwards
counting the number of footsteps on the ground between the bushes, and
comparing the result with the time occupied in passing between the two,
I thus proposed to myself to ascertain his rate of speed.

Scarcely had I conceived this idea when the bird passed the first bush,
and I glanced at my watch; then he passed the second, and I glanced
again. Thus I noted that he took exactly ten seconds to pass from one
bush to the other. While I was in the act of jotting this down I heard
the report of Peterkin's rifle, and looking up hastily, saw the
tail-feathers of the ostrich knocked into the air, but the bird itself
passed on uninjured. I was deeply mortified at this failure, and all
the more so that, from past experience, I had been led to believe that
my friend _never_ missed his mark. Hurrying up, I exclaimed--

"Why, my dear fellow, what _can_ have come over you?"

Poor Peterkin seemed really quite distressed; he looked quite humbled at
first.

"Ah!" said he, "it's all very well for you to say, `What has come over
you?' but you ought to make allowance for a man who has carried a heavy
load all the forenoon. Besides, he was almost beyond range. Moreover,
although I have hunted a good deal, I really have not been in the habit
of firing at animal locomotives under full steam. Did you ever see such
a slapping pace and such an outrageous pair of legs, Ralph?"

"Never," said I. "But come with me to yonder bushes. I'm going to make
a calculation."

"What's a calcoolashun?" inquired our guide, who came up at that moment,
panting violently.

"It's a summation, case of counting up one, two, three, etcetera--and
may be multiplying, subtracting, and dividing into the bargain."

"Ho! dat's what me been do at de missionary school."

"Exactly; but what sort of calculation Ralph means to undertake at
present I know not. Perhaps he's going to try to find out whether, if
we were to run at the rate of six miles an hour till doomsday, in the
wrong direction, there would be any chance of our ever sticking that
ostrich's tail again on his big body. But come along; we shall see."

On reaching the spot I could scarcely believe my eyes. Each step this
bird had taken measured fourteen feet in length! I always carried a
rolled-up