lying down behind a bush, and, creeping under cower
of an ant-hill, I shot it through the shoulder with
a Reilly No. 10; it immediately galloped off, but
after run of a couple of hundred yards it laid down
on the edge of thick thorny jungle that bordered
the margin of the Royan. I waited, in the expectation
that it would shortly die, but it suddenly
rose, and walked slowly into the thorns. Determined
to cut off its retreat, I pushed through the bushes,
intending to reach the dry bed of the Royan and
shoot the rhinoceros as it crossed from the narrow
belt of jungle, into which it had retreated; but I
had hardly reached half way, when I heard a sound
in the bush upon my right, and I saw the wounded
beast coming straight for our position, but evidently
unconscious of our presence, as we were to leeward.
I immediately crouched down, as did my men likewise,
lest the animal should observe us. Slowly, but
surely, it came on exactly towards us, until it was
at last so near as to be unpleasant: I looked behind
me, and I saw by the expression of my men that
they were thinking of retreat. I merely shook my
fist and frowned at them to give them confidence,
and I waited patiently for my opportunity. It was
becoming too ridiculous; the rhinoceros was within
five or six yards, and was slowly but steadily advancing
direct upon us. At the next step that he
made, I raised my rifle gently to my shoulder, and
whistled sharply: in an instant it tossed its head
up, and seeing nothing in front, as my clothes
matched with the leafless bushes, it turned its head
to the left, and T. immediately pulled the trigger.
It fell as though smitten by a sledge hammer, and
it lay struggling on the ground. Baeheet sprang
forward, and with an Arab sword he cut the hamstring
of one leg. To the astonishment of us all,
the rhinoceros jumped up, and on three legs it sprang
quickly round and charged Baeheet, who skipped
into the bushes, while I ran alongside the rhinoceros
as it attempted to follow him, and, with the Fletcher
No. 24, I fired through the shoulder, by placing
the muzzle within a yard of the animal. It fell
dead to this shot, which was another feather in the
cap of the good little rifle. The skull of the rhinoceros
is very curiously shaped; I had fired for the
temple, and had struck the exact point at which
I had aimed, but, instead of hitting the brain, the
bullet had smashed the joint of the jaw, in which
it stuck fast. I never have been able to understand
why that powerful rifle was thus baffled, unless there
had been some error in the charge of powder. This
rhinoceros had no ears, they had been bitten off
close to the head by another of the same species,
while fighting; this mutilation is by no means
uncommon.
From this point I traversed the country in all
directions; upon one occasion I took a large supply
of water, and penetrated into the very heart of the
Base, half way between the Settite and the river
Gash or Mareb, near the base of the mountain chain;