take care of her, she thought it over and finally concluded it would
be a very nice arrangement. And so Groar took her home to his herd and
introduced her to the leader--an old giraffe with a dark chestnut hide
and a longer neck than any of the others--as his wife.

And Gean was very happy, for Groar was a good and kind husband, and
very devoted to her, and she no longer had to be always looking out
for danger, for Groar was always watching, and guarded her with the
greatest care. He took her for long walks through the woods, where
they found nice, fresh food, and saw that she had her share of it, but
they picked and ate only a few leaves or blades of grass at a time,
for it is a provision of Nature that giraffes shall feed in this way,
as their digestion is extremely delicate.

In times of danger they would get close to a tree, lean their bodies
against it, and then, putting their heads and necks under the
branches, would be so completely hidden that sometimes the natives
would mistake the giraffes for trees, and the trees for giraffes. Gean
and Groar were more easily hidden than some of their cousins who lived
in Northern Africa, for, being South Africans themselves, they were of
a much darker color, and therefore not so noticeable.

[Illustration: "GROAR JOINED IN WITH MIGHT AND MAIN."]

It was in this way that they saved themselves one day, when, followed
by hunters. These hunters were mounted on good, fleet horses, and had
traced the pair of giraffes by their _spoor_, or footmarks. These
footmarks were ten or eleven inches in length, pointed at the toe, and
rounded at the heel, so that it was quite easy to find which way the
giraffes had gone.