breath
coming in heavy gasps.

"She's dyin', baas," remarked Piet, "dyin' of tiredness and thirst! She
mus' have run a long, long way when she too tired to get up at sight of
we."

Yes, there was no doubt about it, the poor beast was at her last gasp;
and unless something were quickly done to relieve her she would
assuredly die. Piet and I were both wearing soft, wide-brimmed felt
hats, of sufficient capacity to contain about three pints of water and
to retain it without very much leakage for several minutes, while there
was a stream within twenty yards of the spot where we stood. It was
possible that we might yet save the beautiful creature's life if we
bestirred ourselves.

"Quick, Piet!" I exclaimed. "Come to the river with me and fill your
hat with water. We must do what we can for the poor brutes. I should
like to capture and tame them both if possible."

"No, baas, you never do that," answered Piet. "Don' you know that a
zebra can never be tame?"

"So I have heard; but I don't altogether believe it," said I. "At all
events I mean to try; so hurry, you black rascal!"

In less than five minutes we were back with our dripping hats still
nearly full of water, and as I knelt down by the head of the mare, and
held my hat close to her gaping nostrils, the poor beast smelt the water
and uttered a sound that might be best described as a sort of gasping
whinny; then, raising her head with an effort, she plunged her muzzle
into the hat and sucked up its contents with indescribable eagerness,
allowing her head to sink back with something that sounded like a sigh
of contentment when both hats had been emptied. Then Piet and I dashed
off to the river and procured a second supply, which the zebra also
drank. Meanwhile the colt had been making desperate efforts to get a
share of the water, but we had kept him off, with some difficulty, the
mare being obviously in the greater need. But now that we had given her
as much as we deemed good for her, for the moment, we turned out
attention to the colt, administering to him two hatfuls of water, which
he absorbed with an eagerness that quite equalled that of his mother.
Then, perceiving that the little chap's gratification at our
ministrations seemed to have quite conquered any fear of us which he
might have originally entertained, I walked over to where the horses
were standing and detached from Piet's saddle a long rein of twisted raw
hide that we usually carried w