He would be lost! He grew more than anxious.

He became frightened in earnest.
What was he to do?
Leap down, and risk his neck in the fall?
He would lose his quagga and his saddle as well--he regarded the eland as already lost--he would have to walk back to camp, and get laughed at on his return.
No matter for all that; his life was in danger if he kept on.

The quaggas might gallop twenty,--ay, fifty miles before halting.

They showed no symptoms of being blown--no signs of giving out.

He must fling himself to the ground, and let quagga and saddle go.
He had formed this resolution, and was actually about to put it in practice.