To make the most of the night, as I wanted meat for
my men to cook, as well as a stock to carry with them,
or barter with the villagers for grain, I now retired to my
old position, and waited again.
After two hours had elapsed, two more rhinoceros
approached me in the same stealthy, fidgety way as the
first one. They came even closer than the first, but,
the moon having passed beyond their meridian, I could
not obtain so clear a mark. Still they were big marks,
and I determined on doing my best before they had time
to wind us; so, stepping out, with the sheikh’s boys
behind me carrying the second rifle to meet all emergencies,
I planted a ball in the larger one, and brought
him round with a roar and whooh-whooh, exactly to the
best position I could wish for receiving a second shot;
but, alas! on turning sharply round for the spare rifle, I
had the mortification to see that both the black boys had
made off, and were scrambling like monkeys up a tree.
At the same time the rhinoceros, fortunately for me,
on second consideration turned to the right-about, and
shuffled away, leaving, as is usually the case when conical
bullets are used, no traces of blood.
Thus ended the night’s work. We now went home by
dawn to apprise all the porters that we had flesh in store
for them, when the two boys who had so shamelessly deserted
me, instead of hiding their heads, described all the
night’s scenes with such capital mimicry as set the whole
camp in a roar. We had all now to hurry back to the
carcass before the Wagogo could find i t ; but though this
precaution was quickly taken, still, before the tough skin
of the beast could be cut through, the Wagogo began
assembling like vultures, and fighting with my men. A
more savage, filthy, disgusting, but at the same time
grotesque, scene than that which followed cannot be conceived.
All fell to work armed with swords, spears,
knives, and hatchets—cutting and slashing, thumping