pursued, and separating from the herd, went off at a
clumsy gallop, its neck outstretched, and its tail whisking about as it
kept looking back at its pursuer.

Jack picked out another, which made for the denser part, where the trees
were thick, and in his excitement he gave his cob the rein, and away
they went at racing pace.

But Jack did not gain much upon the giraffe he had chosen, for almost
before he had seen the colour of its spots at all closely, his horse,
participating in its master's eagerness, went at full speed under a
long, low branch, and came out on the other side of the wood, but
without Jack, who was swept violently out of his saddle by the low
bough, which swung violently to and fro for a few moments, and then
deposited Jack softly in a sitting posture upon the ground. The boy
rose to rub his chest very softly, and then feeling to see whether he
was all right, he went on in chase of his horse, which he overtook
standing very patiently just outside the patch of forest, looking
wonderingly at him, as if asking why he had left its back.

"What a nuisance!" grumbled Jack; "and I daresay they've both shot
giraffes by this time. How unlucky, to be sure!"

He lifted the reins from his horse's feet, and thrusting them over its
head, mounted again, but not comfortably, for Jack felt very sore across
the chest where the bough had struck him.

From this post of vantage he could see his father in the distance still
in chase of the giraffe; but though he looked in various directions,
there was no Dick.

"Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoop!"

Jack started to look in the direction from whence the sound had come,
but he could see nothing. He, however, responded to the call, and it
was repeated, evidently from a patch of wood half a mile distant.

As he cantered towards it, the signal rang out again.

"Dick's brought down his giraffe very quickly," said Jack.
"Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoop!"

"Here! Hoi! Jack!" came now from pretty close to him--but in a dense
part of the patch of trees; and riding up, there was Dick, with his
horse standing perfectly still and looking at him.

"Come along," cried Jack. "Where's your giraffe?"

"I don't know. Where's yours?"

"Miles away. I galloped under a tree, and was pulled off my horse, such
a bang."

"We came right into these thorns," said Dick, "and have been here ever
since."

"What! can't you get out?"

"Get out? No. It's horrible. I'm caught all over, and poor old Shoes