l impediments at
a rapid rate, while the savage beast stole off, vowing vengeance,
probably, against me for having disappointed him of his morning meal.
The koodoo lives chiefly on buds and leaves and the young shoots of
trees and bushes, and it is said that he is capable of going a long time
without water. He is of a very timid disposition, but I am told,
however, that when hotly pressed or wounded, he will sometimes face
about and attack his pursuer. But we must now see about getting food
for our young captive. We were, fortunately, on our way here, able to
purchase half-a-dozen goats from some natives who had brought them from
the south, and we must devote the milk of one of them to him."

"But how can you make him drink it?" asked Bella.

"Just as we give it to babies," said David, laughing. "I will make a
sucking-bottle for him. It can very easily be done. See! that small
gourd hanging up will answer the purpose. I will fasten a piece of
linen and a small quill in the mouth, and we will try the little
creature."

"I will go and milk the goat," cried Leo, rushing out. "You come and
help me, Natty, though."

Meantime David prepared the bottle, and in a few minutes Leo returned
with a calabash full of milk.

"It is lucky I went," said Natty, "for the goat had refused to be milked
at this hour, and had knocked Leo over."

"Yes, and she would have knocked you over, too, if I had not held her
legs," said Leo. "However, we managed it."

"Why, how did you do that?" asked David.

"Oh, we tied her hind-legs to a post on one side and her fore-legs to
another, and I held the head while Natty milked," said Leo. "Poor
goat!" observed Kate. "I suspect she will not allow you to play that
trick again."

The bottle was filled, and no sooner was it put to the little koodoo's
lips than the creature began pulling away in a very satisfactory manner,
every now and then giving a butt at it as it might have done when
obtaining milk from its mother. It satisfied us, however, that there
would be but little difficulty in bringing up the creature. Chico had
eagerly watched the operation from his corner in the hut, though he did
not approach the new comer. As soon as the deer had done with the
bottle, David hung it up, when the monkey, fancying himself unobserved,
instantly made for it, and, greatly to our amusement, applied it to his
own lips, and began sucking away till he had drained it dry. He then
quietly attempt