In Search of the Okapi / A Story of Adventure in Central Africa

E-text prepared by Charles Klingman
A Story of Adventure in Central Africa
Author of The Diamond Seekers The Fossicker Tales from the Veld etc.
Illustrated by William Rainey, R.I.
Chicago A. C. McClurg & Co. 1904
Dick, why do you study Arabic so closely?
To understand Arabic.
And further?
Dick Compton closed his book and placed it carefully in a leather case.
It is a pity you were born curious, Venning, otherwise you would have made an excellent companion for a studious man. 'Why do I wish to understand Arabic?' Why do you stand on one leg watching a tadpole shed its tail.
Excuse me, I always sit down to watch a tadpole.
Yet I have seen you poised on one leg for an hour like a heron, afraid to put down the other foot lest you should scare some wretched pollywog. Why?