No; they could not wait for Swartboy. They must proceed without him; and, mounting their horses, the yägers rode off towards the desert plain.
Chapter Twenty Three.
The Ostrich “Surround.”
On reaching the edge of the grove they halted to reconnoitre, still keeping under cover of the timber. Congo had reported truly. There was a flock of ostriches, sure enough. There were seven of these great birds in one “clump,” and an eighth at no great distance from the rest. Of the seven, five appeared to be hens and two of them cocks. The one apart was also a cock. I say appeared to be. You will imagine there could be no doubt, since the male and female of these birds are so very unlike in the colour of their plumage. That is true when they have attained to a certain age; but the young males, even when full-grown, do not get the beautiful white feathers all at once, and for a long time can hardly at a distance be distinguished from the females.
That, however, was not the reason why the young yägers were in doubt about their sex. It was because the birds were in a position nearly due east from the point of observation, and the sun being yet only a few degrees above the horizon, his rays fell in such a manner as to prevent them from having a clear view. To use a common phrase, the sun was “in their eyes.”
For all that, they could count the ostriches, and believed that of the eight three were cocks and the rest hens.
The seven in the “clump” were stationary; that is, they were not moving away from the spot. Some were stalking leisurely about, occasionally taking a “peck;” and it must have been sand or pebbles they were eating, as there was not the semblance of vegetation near the spot. Some sat squatted upon their “hams,” their long legs doubled underneath; and one or two were lying along the ground, and fluttering in the sand, just as common hens and turkeys do in warm weather. The dust raised by these formed a little cloud that floated around them, and added to the difficulty of distinguishing either their sex or their movements. The seven were at no great distance from the edge of the mokhala grove, and the one that was separate was still nearer. He was going towards them, stooping his head at intervals, and feeding as he went. From this circumstance, the boys conjectured that he had been much nearer, which conjecture was strengthened by Congo, who said, that when he had first observed them, this old cock was not two hundred yards from the edge of the timber, and was then going out, just as now.
Perhaps he had been within shot of the cover. What a pity, thought Klaas and Jan, they had not been earlier on the look-out!