Travel: Literally Lost - 11
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Your support makes all the difference.The following excerpt has been taken from a classic work of travel literature. Readers are invited to tell us: a) where is the action taking place? b) who is the author? Blackwell's Bookshops will supply pounds 30-worth of book tokens each week to the first correct answer out of the hat. Answers on a postcard to: Literally Lost, 'Independent on Sunday', 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5DL. Usual Newspaper Publishing competition rules apply. Entries to arrive by Thursday 11 December.
Beyond the Worsell homestead, the road led down to the confused and lumpy plain, where wind-waves swept through the grass in travelling bands of sunshine and shadow. A troop of pronghorn antelope veered off to the right ahead of the Jeep, leaping, skimble-shanked, at 40 mph. I slammed on the brake; so did the antelope. Standing shock-still on a dusty swell of ground, within easy rifle range, they stared at us with vast bedroom eyes. Rarely have I felt myself to be an object of such engrossed and trusting fascination.
"And people hunt these things as game? It's like shooting Bambi."
"You want to strangle one with your bare hands?" Mike said. "What you do is lie down in the middle of the road and wave your arms and legs in the air. The little darlings will come right up to you."
I invited him to demonstrate, but he remembered his age and claimed a bad back.
The antelope, all eyes, took a delicate step forward. They were close enough for one to see the single blemish on their beauty - whiskers encircled their lips in unkempt toiletbrush beards.
"You've eaten antelope?
"Sure. Many times."
"What do they taste like?"
"Kind of midway between a hummingbird and a whooping crane. Same as venison. I couldn't tell you the difference. When you skin them, they look like German Shepherds, and if you get a tough one, it tastes a lot like German Shepherd too."
Literally Lost:10
Last week's extract came from "My family and other animals" by Gerald Durrell. The action took place in Corfu. The winner was Ms CJ Eager, Kent.
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