“Well,” said Bob, disappointed, “if nobody else goes, Ali and I will go it alone.”
Jack grinned. “Count me in, old thing,” he said. “I’m as keen as you for a little excitement. Only thing is, I hate to ride those dratted camels. But what must be, must be. Let’s go.”
Three camels were brought up, accordingly, and saddled, and then Ali, Bob and Jack mounted and ambled away. Mr. Hampton accompanied them to the edge of the desert, warning them to look out that they did not come to close quarters with an infuriated ostrich, especially if by any chance they were unarmed.
“These African ostriches stand seven or eight feet tall, boys,” he warned, “and they have tricky tempers. If by any chance you become dismounted and an ostrich charges, throw yourself flat on the sand and stay there. Then the ostrich can’t kick you. He’ll probably sit on you, but hold your position until one of your comrades can come up and shoot him. Remember, the ostrich kicks forward or sidewise, and a blow from his powerful leg can cave in a man’s head or break a horse’s leg.”
“All right, Dad, we’ll be careful,” promised Jack, “but it’s hardly likely we’ll ever get to close quarters. I imagine when the ostriches see us coming, they’ll give a flirt of their tails and sail away.”
During the time taken for saddling up and getting started, the ostrich herd had moved eastward and now was out of sight, even through the glasses. Ali led for the place where they had been seen, and as they rode gave the boys a little homily on the great birds they hoped soon to stalk.
Ostriches are found throughout Africa, except in the central and coastal regions of great forests. Especially do they haunt the waste places and deserts, where stunted bushes furnish sufficient food for their needs. Their hardihood and fleetness makes life possible where other animals could not exist. Even sand and pebbles apparently can be digested by them, and it is a fact that the domesticated ostriches of farms and zoos have been known to swallow glass, barbed wire, bright-colored bits of metal, bed springs, and other similar objects.
Unfit for food, these great birds are valued because of their beautiful feathers, which can be plucked at certain seasons of the year without harm to them. For this reason, the Arabs of northern Africa and the colonists of South Africa for long have domesticated ostriches. In South Africa alone, latest estimates were that the number of domestic ostriches was between 800,000 and 900,000. Ostrich-raising also has been introduced into California and Arizona with varying success. One of the chief worries of the ostrich raiser is proper incubation of the eggs, which take at least forty days to hatch and more frequently a full seven weeks.
In their wild state, the ostriches lay their nests of great eggs—ivory white in color among the birds of the Sahara, mottled among those of Basutoland and South Africa—on the top of a sand dune, whence they can see in all directions and guard against surprise. The male takes his turn with the female in sitting on the nest. Jackals, drawn by the chance of obtaining some of these eggs, almost invariably haunt the ostriches. When an unguarded nest is found, the jackal pushes a big egg up the sand slope with his nose and then lets it roll down into the nest. Coming into contact with another egg, usually both become cracked. Then the jackal sucks the contents. There is so little on the desert to feed the jackal that the dangers he runs from the attack of an infuriated ostrich are braved in order to obtain such a succulent feast. Observers have reported seeing a jackal pursued by an ostrich and running in zigzag fashion for his burrow. If he fails to reach it in time, one swipe of the ostrich’s leg tosses him yards away and disembowels him.
When the desert people conduct an ostrich hunt, it is for the purpose of capturing birds to be incorporated into their herds. They go out in numbers on fleet horses, circle widely to fixed stations, and the chase begins. The fleeing ostrich for a time can outrun the swiftest horse. Therefore, the pursuer keeps going until his horse lags, whereupon he gives way to another horseman. A desert creature, strangely enough the ostrich is not inured to great heat, and sometimes when being pursued under a hot sun will suddenly keel over, dead of apoplexy.