“Boa-constrictors!” he cried in his astonishment. “Monsters! Ugh! No, they’re those great long-necked giraffes. They looked just like huge snakes raising themselves amongst the trees.”
Dick forgot all about the thorns as he nipped his nag’s sides with his knees, turned its head, and went off at a canter for the place where the giraffes, seven or eight in number, were browsing upon the lower branches of the trees, their long necks seeming to writhe in and out amongst the branches in a way that quite justified Dick’s idea of their being serpents, for their bodies were invisible among the undergrowth.
For a few minutes the great animals did not see the approach of the young hunter; but the moment they caught sight of the fleet cob bounding over the sunburnt grass, they went off at a clumsy, waddling gallop, scattering as they went, their necks outstretched and eyes rolling; while the cob seemed to single out a beautifully marked calf, about two-thirds grown, whose creamy skin was regularly spotted with rich light brown.
Dick’s rifle was slung over his back, but he never once thought of using it. In fact, he hardly knew in the excitement of the chase what he intended, and so he raced on past patch after patch of scattered trees, and past clumps of thorns, which both he and the cob carefully avoided.
Now they gained a little; but directly after the giraffe whisked its tail straight up over its back and put on more power, leaving the hunter some distance behind; and so the race went on for a couple of miles, Dick never once remembering his thorns, as he knew that it was only a question of time to run the great animal to a stand.
“Why, I could catch it then,” cried Dick excitedly; and sticking his heels into his horse, away they went over the grassy plain, gaining rapidly now; and though the giraffe kept on making an effort to increase the distance, it was of no avail, for the cob raced on closer and closer, and then avoiding the vicious kicks of the creature, delivered with tremendous force by its bony legs, the cob raced on alongside.
There was a wonderful difference in the progress of the two animals—the one awkward, and seeming as if running on stilts; the other compact, muscular, and self-contained, evidently possessing double the endurance with an equal speed to the giraffe.
On still and on, with the cob’s sides flecked with foam, and the giraffe blundering now as it progressed. Once it turned sharp off to the left, but without a touch the cob wheeled as well, and kept alongside, watchfully keeping clear whenever he saw the giraffe about to kick, which it tried to do if there was a chance.
Dick was excited with the chase, so was the cob, which stretched out more and more greyhound fashion as it raced along.
Fortunately, the grassy prairie-like stretch of land was clear