The New Noah by Gerald Durrell Page B

This tiny Indian woman jumped up
on to the enormous bull’s back and sat there side-saddle, her long black hair hanging down to her waist, so that she looked rather like Lady Godiva. Then she gave the bull a whack on the rump
with a large stick and he set off at a brisk trot over the grasslands.
    When Francis and I arrived back at the place where we had left my friend and the ant-eater, we found that the ant-eater had succeeded in making things difficult for us. He had managed to climb
halfway out of his sack, which was now hanging round his hind quarters like a pair of rather baggy trousers, and he was scuttling to and fro across the grass hotly pursued by my friend. We caught
and pushed him into a new sack and tied him up even more securely, while my friend recounted the difficulties he had undergone during our absence.
    Apparently, first of all his horse, which we thought was securely tied up, had suddenly wandered off across the grass and my friend had pursued it for quite a long time before he managed to
catch it. When he got back, he found the ant-eater had succeeded in wriggling free of some of his cords and had ripped open the sack with his claws and was half out of it. My friend, frightened
that he might escape, rushed forward, pushed him back into the sack and tied him up once again. When he looked round he found that his horse had seized the opportunity to wander away once more.
    By the time he had captured his mount and returned to the ant-eater, the beast had broken out of his sack for the second time. It was just at this point that we had arrived back on the
scene.
    Presently, Francis’s wife galloped up on the bull’s back and she helped us to load the ant-eater on to it. The bull was very quiet about the whole business and did not seem to mind
whether the sack on his back was full of potatoes or rattlesnakes, and although the ant-eater hissed and struggled as much as he could, the bull plodded steadily onwards, taking not the slightest
notice.
    We reached the ranch just after dark and there got our capture out of the sack and untied him. I made a rough harness out of the rope and tethered him to a big tree; also, a large bowl of water
was placed there for him and he was left to have a good night’s sleep.
    Very early the next morning I crept out to have a look at him, and at first glance I thought he had managed to escape in the night, for I could not see him. I realized after a while that he was
lying between the roots of the tree, curled up in a tight ball, and had spread his tail over himself, like a great grey shawl, so that from a distance he looked less like an ant-eater and more like
a pile of old cinders. It was then that I realized how very useful his big tail must be to him. In the grasslands he scrapes himself a shallow bed in among the big tussocks of grass, curls himself
up in this and spreads his tail over himself like a roof, and only the very worst weather could succeed in penetrating this hairy cover.
    My problem now was to teach Amos, as we called him, to eat a substitute food, for he could not be fed on a diet of white ants at the zoo in England. The mixture was composed of milk, raw egg,
and finely minced beef, to which was added three drops of cod-liver oil. I filled a large bowl with this mixture and took it along to a big white ants’ nest, which was not far from the
ranch-house, and, making a hole in the nest, collected a handful of the creatures and scattered them over the surface of the milky substance in the bowl. I carried the whole lot back and placed it
where Amos could reach it.
    I thought it would be some time before he would take to this new food, but, to my surprise, on seeing the bowl, he rose to his feet and ambled forwards. He sniffed carefully and flipped out his
long snake-like tongue and dipped it into the mixture. Then he paused for a moment, musing over the taste, and having decided that it was to his liking he stood over the bowl, his long tongue