After having partially surrounded
the herd, the half-circle of coolies began to
advance with wild shouts, whereupon the zebras
galloped madly about from side to side, and then
did just what we wished them to do -- made
straight for an exceptionally boggy part of the
ground, where they soon became more or less
helpless. We singled out a few young ones and
succeeded in running them to an absolute
standstill, when we threw them down and sat on their
heads until the other men came up with ropes.
In this way we captured no less than six: they
were very wild and fractious, giving us a great
deal of trouble in getting them along, but
eventually we managed to bring them in triumph to
the camp, where they were firmly secured. The
whole expedition lasted little more than a couple
of hours.
Three of the captured zebras I kept for myself,
while the other three were given to the Surfacing
Engineer, whose men had assisted in the hunt.
Two of my three unfortunately died very shortly
after; but the third, a sturdy two-year-old,
flourished splendidly. At first he was
exceedingly vicious, biting and kicking everyone who
approached him; indeed, he once planted both
his hind feet on my chest, but did me no serious
damage beyond throwing me heavily to the
ground.
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