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David, who was with me, ran out to meet them. "They have got a gemsbok!" he exclaimed; "one of the most interesting of the antelope tribe. It is known also as the oryx." "How did you catch it?" he asked. "We found it in the pit!" exclaimed the boys at once; "the mother and the young one. Poor little creature.
I had just shot this oryx, and I had no wish to leave it for them, or I might have been here sooner; but there is time to get ready, if we are sharp about it." Stanley, on hearing this, was in his element. He immediately ordered out all hands to cut down the smaller trees from the group I spoke of, to form palisades.
We can however see that, as soon as some ancient male progenitor of the Oryx acquired moderately long horns, directed a little backwards, he would be compelled, in his battles with rival males, to bend his head somewhat inwards or downwards, as is now done by certain stags; and it is not improbable that he might have acquired the habit of at first occasionally and afterwards of regularly kneeling down.
They live in extensive herds on the karoos; and are hunted by the natives for their skins out of which the Kaffirs make their karosses. Their flesh is eaten; though it is not so much esteemed as that of some other antelopes. The Oryx, or Gemsbok, is a middle-sized species, dwelling in the same neighbourhood with the gnus.
Also, the camel is now fairly naturalized in Texas and New Mexico, and the two-toed ostrich in South America; on the pampas of that continent travellers may meet with the gazelle, the springbok, the oryx, and the kangaroo. Elephants are domesticated and used for court occasions in Brazil, as they are in India.
"What a dear little creature!" she exclaimed. "We must give it a name, though. I do not think gemsbok is pretty. I like oryx better." "I am afraid, however, when he gets his horns he will prove rather a dangerous companion," observed David, looking at the head of the larger animal which lay on the ground outside the hut.
When I reached this point I commanded an extremely extensive prospect, but no living object was visible on the desolate plain. Whilst deliberating in which direction to ride, I suddenly heard a pistol-shot, some distance to my left, which I knew to be Cobus's signal that the oryx was at bay. Having ridden half a mile, I discovered Cobus dismounted in a hollow, and no oryx in view.
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