their footprints, they went on chatting about them till the waggon was reached, to find that a couple more waggons, the property of an ivory-trader travelling south, had been out-spanned close by, so that there would be company for the night.
The ivory-trader proved to be an intelligent man, and he said that there were plenty of elephants in the neighbourhood, but warned them to beware of the rhinoceros and crocodile, while he declared that one or two of the tribes farther north were worse than either.
Lions were heard in the distance, but the fires kept up proved sufficient to warn them off, and a very good night was spent; but just as breakfast was being got ready Peter gave the alarm, Chicory echoed it; there was a rush for rifles and guns, and a general state of excitement, for five ostriches had suddenly made their appearance, right up close to the camp, their tall necks with their flat stupid-looking heads undulating like snakes above the long grass.
For a few moments they had appeared to be perfectly astounded at the sight of the various strange objects, the waggons and their accompaniments. Then the shouts alarmed them, and as the guns were handed out of the waggons and the huntsmen prepared to fire, the ostriches were getting up speed, running faster and faster, till, as Dick said, their legs seemed to twinkle; and the shots that were sent after them, though they might have whistled past, had not the good fortune to bring them down.
“Well,” exclaimed Dinny who was standing by the fire. “Of all the things I ever did see run, them there do beat, and no mistake.”
Certainly the speed with which their long, powerful legs sent the large birds over the ground was wonderful, and in a very short time, long before horses could have been saddled, they were out of sight.
“Why, thim birds can run almost as fast as my big brother,” said Dinny musingly, as the last ostrich disappeared.
“Could he run fast, Dinny?” asked Dick, smiling at his brother, as much as to say, “Now you listen to him, and hear what he says.”
“An’ is it run fast, he asks?” cried Dinny. “Why, he was the fastest runner in Oireland, and they used to make races for him to run, and match him against toime, and he always won. Why, wheniver he run he came in widout his boots.”
“Came in without his boots?” said Jack, laughing.