As far as I know, there is only one published account of a sable antelope being pursued by a single Cape hunting-dog, in this way, nor was the incident, in this case, witnessed to its natural conclusion. It has not been absolutely proved, therefore, that such a chase may be brought by the dog to a successful conclusion; but I myself have no doubt whatever that it both can be and sometimes is, for I do not believe that wild animals ever attempt what it is not within their power to achieve, though, of course, they may sometimes fail in the attempt. They are guided by their experience, and though there are exceptions to every rule, it is safe to assume that, in the important concerns of their life, we never see a grown wild animal either making a first experiment or doing a foolish thing.
The End of the Chase.
Sable antelope attacked by Cape hunting dogs.
The account above alluded to is by my brother, and as it is very interesting, I will conclude this chapter with it. “We this day witnessed a very pretty sight, as we were riding across a wide, open down, between the Zweswe and Umfule rivers. We had a short time previously noticed a solitary old sable antelope bull feeding on the edge of a small strip of bush that intersected the plain. Suddenly this antelope, which was six or seven hundred yards distant, came running into the flat straight towards us, on perceiving which we reined in our horses and looked around for the cause of its alarm. This was soon apparent, for before long we saw that an animal was running on its tracks and, though still distant, overhauling it fast, for the sable antelope, not being pressed, was not yet doing its best, so that when it was about two hundred yards from us, its pursuer, which we now saw was a wild dog, was not more than fifty yards behind it. The noble-looking antelope must just then have seen us, for it halted, looked towards us, and then turning its head, glanced at its insignificant pursuer. That glance, however, at the open-mouthed dog, thirsting for its life-blood, must have called up unpleasant reminiscences, for instead of showing fight, as I should have expected it to have done, it threw out its limbs convulsively and came dashing past us at its utmost speed. It was, however, to no purpose, for the wild dog, lying flat to the ground, as a greyhound, its bushy tail stretched straight behind it, covered two yards to its one, and came up with it in no time. It just gave it one bite in the flank, and letting go its hold instantly, fell a few yards behind; at the bite the sable antelope swerved towards us, and upon receiving a second in exactly the same place, turned still more, so that, taking the point on which we stood for a centre, both pursuer and pursued had described about a half-circle around us, always within two hundred yards, since the sable antelope had first halted. As the wild dog was just going up the third time, it got our wind, and instead of again inflicting a bite, stopped dead and looked towards us, whilst about a hundred yards from it the sable antelope also came to a stand. The baffled hound then turned round and made off one way, whilst the sable antelope, delivered from its tormentor, cantered off in another.”[15]
CHAPTER XXV
MAN AND BEAST IN THE FAR NORTH—TRAPS THAT ARE SEEN THROUGH—A NEW DISCOVERY—CUNNING OF ARCTIC FOXES—THE TRAPPER AND THE WOLVERINE.
The various ruses mentioned in the preceding chapter were all of an offensive character, employed, that is to say, by one animal in order to entrap and prey upon another. But as much cunning may be shown by a creature in avoiding death as in inflicting it, or in securing its food. The two kinds, indeed, are often combined, as was seen in the last case mentioned, where, but for its ingenious method of attack, the dog must soon have been impaled on the horns of the sable antelope, an animal in comparison with whose size and strength its own are quite insignificant.
The same remark applies to those crowning instances of animal strategy in which the endeavour—constantly successful—is to avoid the artifices of man himself, since the successful springing of the trap is followed by a triumphant meal upon the bait with which it is set. There is nothing, in its way, more interesting than that keen, hard, close competition between the brain of man and beast that is going on day by day and year by year in the fur-bearing regions of the North, especially over the snowy wastes of the Hudson Bay territories in the far north of North America. The cunning shown by the arctic foxes, especially in avoiding the various kinds of snares laid by the trappers for their destruction, is truly wonderful, and we should be justified in disbelieving many of the facts narrated were they not well authenticated and, indeed, notorious in those parts.