Scarcely had I got round when I heard the reeds parting
before the onward rush of some animal. 'Now for it,' said I. On it came.
I could see that it was yellow, and prepared for action, when instead
of a lion out bounded a beautiful rietbok which had been lying in
the shelter of the pan. It must, by the way, have been a rietbok of a
peculiarly confiding nature to lay itself down with the lion, like the
lamb of prophecy, but I suppose the reeds were thick, and that it kept a
long way off.
"Well, I let the rietbok go, and it went like the wind, and kept my
eyes fixed upon the reeds. The fire was burning like a furnace now; the
flames crackling and roaring as they bit into the reeds, sending spouts
of fire twenty feet and more into the air, and making the hot air dance
above it in a way that was perfectly dazzling. But the reeds were
still half green, and created an enormous quantity of smoke, which came
rolling toward me like a curtain, lying very low on account of the wind.
Presently, above the crackling of the fire, I heard a startled roar,
then another and another.
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