With I'hishlight :iiul RiHc ^ 



after months upon his back, seems to have exercised a 

 wonderful fascination for the species. Wherever h(t went, 

 there rhinoceroses were sure to s[)rinL;- up ! I kit in the 

 course of his long sojourn among the i)edouins ot Sinai, 

 he had acquired a stoical habit of calm, and now he lets 

 the brute dash through the caravan and bluster away into 

 the tlistance. All he did was to send after it an inde- 

 scribably strong Arabic oath as it disappeared in a storm 

 of dust. I had to congratulate myself upon "a narrow 

 escape" — illustrating that English expression once again. 

 On the same day I saw four other rhinoceroses, among 

 them a mother with her young. Soon afterwards a deeply 

 trodden track leading to a rocky pool in the driest part 

 of the velt tempted me to go in for a night's shooting. 

 In these regions the nights get very cold. Accompanied 

 by some of my men, and provided with a lew woollen 

 coverings, lanterns, etc., I decided to take my stand by 

 the edge of the gorge. However, we had not taken into 

 account sufficiently the suddenness with which the sun 

 sets in these [jarts. We got belated c'7i route, lost our 

 way, and soon Ibund ourselves plunged in absolute; dark- 

 ness, with s(jme hours to wait before the appearance of 

 the moon. Scattered rocks and troublesome; long grass 

 made it difficult tor us to make; any progress, so there 

 seenied to be nothing lor it but to turn back to our camp. 

 That also proved im[)ossibIe, so I decided to wait where 

 we were; until the moon should appear, at nine o clock, 

 <md enal)le us to retrace our steps. There we stayed, 

 therefore, among the; l)its of rock which had cut our knees 

 and the sharp briars and dense tough grass, prisoners 



218 



