Noah Into the African Unknown

Noah had put himself not only into the picture but into the hunt itself. Clinging for dear life, he could faintly make out the brown grass of the savannah racing past, as the cheetah was in full pursuit now and the only thing that Noah could do or think about was to hang on and hope not to fall off. The cheetah raced on, the antelope bounding this way and that, to try to throw its pursuer of his track. The cheetah lived up to its name as the fastest animal on earth by weaving in and out, following the antelope’s crazed path without a pause or second’s stop for breath. Finally the antelope made a fatal mistake and, upon coming to the bed of a dry stream it paused briefly, not knowing whether to jump or to swerve to the side. In that instant of indecision, the cheetah leapt a leap that took it from a flat out running chase to a sudden halt, landing upon the antelopes’ back. The fear-crazed animal, its magnificent brown eyes bulging madly from its head, fell flat and the cheetah, like a well-oiled machine, placed both its paws upon its neck and holding on to its head with its fangs twisted sharply and broke it. The beast lay kicking and finally, its body quivering, it lay still. Noah, who had certainly not reckoned on being a part of such a dramatic and dangerous experience, still clung, dazed, to the back of the cheetah, almost too frightened to allow himself to get down. And if he did get down, what then? The young mouse had little time to think. Things happened fast in the world of animals and the cheetah began immediately to squat over the dead body of the antelope and commence to tear into the stomach, as this is where the most rich and delicious parts of the animal can be found. Noah now slipped down the side of the cheetah onto the dry grass along side. He was somewhat dazed and shocked. He had, growing up as a wild animal on the farm, seen acts of violence and savagery, it is the way of nature, but he had never experienced firsthand such a violent display. He sat beside the hungry cat who was now devouring the antelope at great speed. Already, hyenas, those dog-like scavengers, and vultures, birds who flapped down from the cloudless sky, were hovering nearby, waiting for a chance to slip in and grab a piece of flesh or a morsel of end trail from under the watchful eyes of the watchful cheetah. The cat snarled and growled at these interlopers and whenever they came too close, she would turn and lash out at them, her tail switching wildly. They would have their fill much later when the cheetah had finished and gone back to her lair to feed her cubs. Many times had Noah seen animals hunting and bringing down prey, but the foxes and birds that hunted near his home were nothing like the size of these animals. Noah remained where he was, not quite sure of what his next move should be. He knew instinctively, that he must not move too far from the large cat’s side, as he would really be lost in a country he knew nothing about. And so, he remained huddled, hidden in the grass until the cheetah had eaten its fill. At this point, the cat, which now began thinking about a waterhole to satisfy its thirst, turned a blood-stained face around and spotted Noah for the first time. The large animal blinked several times and looked as if it would pounce. “What are you looking at, insignificant rodent whom I could polish-off with one snap of my powerful jaws…well, as they say, has the cat got your tongue?” With this, the large cat, who had been speaking in Nature Natter, a language common to all animals, now broke off and began laughing at her own joke. “I, I, just dropped in for a visit,” stuttered Noah, realizing how lame and silly that sounded but could think of nothing else to say under the circumstances. “If I weren’t so full of dinner and so winded after that fast chase, I would have to see about you serving as a dessert.” Chuckling to herself, she got up from her crouched position over the half-eaten carcass of the antelopes and stretched to her full length in a luxurious stretching movement. She was now full and sleepy and no one knew she was the least dangerous in this mood. He now had an opportunity to take in this magnificent animal at perhaps closer quarters than was wise. She was a beautiful site: long, lean with a thick, light-brown fur coat spotted with a wonderful pattern of darker brown spots. Her eyes were like glassy agate marbles and looking into them, Noah felt that he could see and understand all the mysteries of the wild. Her ears were surprisingly small, like tufts that stood up on either side of her intelligent face. The cheetah now lay down so that her head was inches away from Noah’s tiny body. Lazily, she blinked at him and in a low purring voice, she inquired, “I know that you are not from around here, mouse. For one thing, your markings are different from local mice. For another, your Nature Natter is hard to understand and finally, no local mouse would be so foolhardy as to sit, in the open, beside a feeding cat. Now, before I have you for dessert, tell me, just out of curiosity, just what are you doing here?” Noah gulped hard; he realized that his story would have to be a good one, in order for him to hang on to his life.