in two hours I saw two
other herds of seven and nine each, and every day thereafter it was
quite a common thing to run across groups of these strange-looking
animals browsing among the trees.

One is not allowed to kill a giraffe except under a special license,
which costs one hundred and fifty rupees, or fifty dollars. One of our
party had a commission to secure a specimen for a collector and had been
unsuccessful in getting it. That circumstance led to an amusing
adventure that I had with a giant giraffe. One day, with my gunbearers,
I had ridden out from camp in search of wild pigs. Ten minutes after
leaving camp I drew rein hastily, for off to my left and in front a lone
giraffe of great size and of splendid black color was slowly careening
along toward me. If he continued in his course and did not see us he
would pass within a hundred yards of me. So I hastily but quietly
dismounted to try for a photograph as he passed.

A moment or two later he saw me for the first time and at once swung
into a funny trot. I took the picture, and then the thought struck me,
"Why not drive him into camp, where he could be secured by the one
having a special license?" I jumped on my horse and galloped around him,
but in a few moments struck a ravine so rocky that I had to walk my
horse through the worst of it. By the time I had crossed the giraffe was
some hundred yards ahead. Still farther ahead the prairie was burning
and the long line of fire extended a mile or more across our front.

I thought this fire would swing the giraffe off, and so it became a race
to reach the fire line first, in order to swing him in the right
direction. The ground was deep with prairie grass, as dry as tinder, and
scattered throughout were innumerable holes in the ground made by the
ant-bears and wart-hogs. Any one of these holes was enough to throw a
horse head over heels if he went into it. I had no gun, having left it
with my gunbearer when I took the picture. So there was nothing to
hinder me as we swept across the great plain.

We passed the camp half a mile away at a furious pace, the giraffe
holding his own with the horse and keeping too far in front to be
turned. By degrees we approached the prairie fire and the flames were
leaping up three or four feet in a line many hundred yards long. The
giraffe hesitated and then breasted the walls of fire; I didn't know
whether my horse would take the salamander leap or not, and as we rushed
down towa