the nest and count
the eggs, while I keep David in play."

"Very well, father."

The order, and the quiet acceptance of it, did not seem to involve much,
yet Johnny had been ordered on somewhat dangerous service that morning,
for David Marais was intensely watchful as well as savage. Several of
the other males, although capable of giving way to temper, were so far
amiable that my friend and I had frequently gone into their enclosures
with our forked sticks and mealies, and had received no worse at their
hands than a threatening attitude or a suspicious look, which passed
away when the food was thrown down; but David's temper was such that we
never ventured into his paddock, contenting ourselves by throwing the
mealies over the hedge or wall that bounded the field. This field, or
enclosure, by the way, was not a small piece of ground which one could
take in at a glance. It was more than a mile in extent, undulating in
form, with a stream bisecting it, and mimosa bushes scattered here and
there, so that from any one point you could not see the entire field, or
ascertain its exact form or size. Sometimes, on going into such a
field, one has to look about for the birds--also to "look out" for them,
as they are prone to sudden assault!

But David Marais required no looking for. His large eagle-eye had
detected us from afar, and we found him at the nearest extremity of the
nearest angle of his grounds ready to give us battle, pacing slowly to
and fro, with that peculiar motion of the wings which indicates
suppressed wrath.

We rode along close to his hedge a short distance, and he marched with
us, brushing against the hedge and showing an anxious desire to get at
us. If there had been a gap in that hedge he would have charged like a
thunderbolt, but there was no gap, and it is a strange fact that an
ostrich cannot leap--at least he _will_ not. The merest trifle of an
obstruction--a bit of wall or hedge over which he could _step_ with
perfect ease--is sufficient to check his advance and keep him in; that
is, if he _walks_ up to it, but he is a stupid bird, and if he _runs_ up
to such an obstruction he may _tumble_ over it, gather himself up on the
other side, and so continue the charge.

On reaching a part of the hedge which dipped into a hollow, Hobson
dismounted and opened the sack with the peace-offering. The bird, after
breasting up to the hedge and finding it impassable, sat down on what
may be styled his e