THE SEA RHINOCEROS 87 



own work and not thinking about the others. Suddenly there 

 was a shout. 



It was Gigi shouting to me to get my gun and to follow 

 double-quick! He swam straight out to sea. I rushed to the 

 boat, grabbed my gun, loaded it in the water, forgot (for- 

 tunately) that my camera was round my neck, and followed 

 in the chase. Gigi was still travelling a hundred yards away, 

 but was now moving parallel to the coast, in about fifty feet 

 of water. Still following up I pondered that in those same 

 waters, a little nearer the coast, I had seen three suspiciously 

 big sharks pass some moments before. I looked left, right and 

 behind . . . But Gigi had no finishing line and continued in 

 zig-zags. I gathered that he must have fired and was watching 

 an animal, probably wounded, on the bottom. Finally I 

 reached him, peered about me but could see nothing. Gigi, 

 not knowing I was there, bumped into me and started. 



'Oh, it's you.' 



*Yes, it's me. What's up ?' 



'I've caught a rhino.' 



'Where is it?' 



*I can't see it now. It's wounded, on the bottom.' 



'Where did you hit it?' 



'High on the flank.' 



Gigi went on searching doggedly, swimming here and 

 there. Then the monster showed up again. It looked enor- 

 mous on the sandy bottom forty feet below. As soon as I saw 

 it, I made for it with the gun. But by chance or cunning it 

 came up to us and parked itself between Gigi and me. This 

 was unusual, but there was no time for comment. With all 

 this fuss going on and a wounded fish between us there must, 

 I thought, be a dozen handsome sharks around us. I dragged 

 up my legs. The rhino dropped in flight like a rock, with me 

 following. It went to scrape its belly on the sand. I aimed, 



