XV MY QUEEREST EXPERIENCE 273 



of meat might excite it, and cause it to run amuck 

 through the camp ; so, plucking a good-sized piece 

 of wood from the fire, I threw it with all my strength, 

 and, just missing the rhinoceros's great ugly head, 

 hit it on the neck or shoulder, and covered it with 

 a shower of sparks. As the blazing brand fell, to the 

 ground, the rhinoceros backed a step or two and 

 then seemed to be sniffing at it. At this moment 

 my gun-carrier hurled another lump of burning wood 

 at our visitor, with a somewhat better aim than 

 mine, for he struck it full in the face — apparently 

 right on the front horn — and lit up its head with a 

 cataract of sparks. This was more than the 

 rhinoceros could stand, and its curiosity being 

 evidently fully satisfied, it spun round with a snort, 

 and trotted off into the night, nor did it ever visit 

 our camp again. 



But the queerest experience I think I ever had 

 with a rhinoceros was one which happened not far 

 from the scene of the last adventure, and during the 

 same year 1873. 



Not having come across elephants for some time, 

 my Kafirs and I were just out of meat — for in those 

 days I seldom shot other animals as long as I had 

 elephant meat to eat, for fear of disturbing the more 

 valuable game — when we came one day on the fresh 

 tracks of two black rhinoceroses, and after following 

 the spoor for a short distance, suddenly sighted the 

 animals themselves lying down in a rather open 

 grassy piece of country. We all crouched down 

 instantly, and as the rhinoceroses never moved, and 

 the wind was favourable, it was soon evident that 

 they had neither seen nor heard us, and were still 

 quite unconscious of danger. Taking one of my 

 heavy, clumsy, old four-bore muzzle-loading elephant 

 guns — the only weapons I then possessed — I at once 

 commenced to creep slowly towards them through 

 the grass, which was not very long. 



T 



