270 THE FA UNA OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA part hi 



to Basso Narok, about lOO miles to the east of us. Several of 

 his porters were killed by rhinoceros, and Lieut, von Hohnel 

 was so seriously wounded that he had to be carried back to 

 the coast. 



In open country and in thin scrub the rhinoceros is com- 

 paratively harmless, but even there he may be mischievous, 

 as I found in my first attempt to hunt this animal. On the 

 day of our entry on to the Kapte plains, we saw a rhinoceros 

 feeding about a mile from the path. Telling the boy to follow 

 with a Snider, I started to stalk it. We found that it was a 

 cow with a young one. I succeeded in reaching a fairly good 

 position, and was just preparing to fire, when some birds sitting 

 upon the back of the animal detected me ; they sprang into 

 the air, flapping their wings and uttering a shrill hiss. This 

 alarmed the rhinoceros, and it suddenly turned and faced me. 

 In this position it was impossible to fire with any effect. So 

 I crawled a few yards to the right in the hope of getting a 

 side shot. The rhinoceros, however, moved too, and fidgeted 

 about between us and its young one. The latter gave a short 

 cry, and as the cow turned to look at it, I fired at its back- 

 bone. The report of the rifle and the animal's grunt of pain 

 roused the bull, which was sleeping in a hollow close by. It 

 trotted slowly into a position between us and its mate, and 

 stood there until the female and the young one had fled 

 to a safe distance up the hill. I waited to see what would 

 happen, and kept ready for a side shot at the shoulder when 

 the animal turned to follow its family, as I anticipated it 

 would do. Instead of this, to my surprise, it suddenly 

 charged furiously at us. Its head was held forward and was 

 jerking up and down as it ran, so that I could not get a 

 satisfactory shot. If I had aimed for the brain, the bullet 

 would probably have been deflected by the horns. All I could 

 do was to fire at the left cheek, which made the rhinoceros 

 swerve to the right and then stop. I turned to get the 

 Snider from my boy and give him the Martini to reload, when, 

 to my consternation, I found that he had bolted with the 

 second rifle and all the cartridges, except one, which I had in 

 my hand. My spectacles were misty with perspiration, so I 

 took them off and cleaned them. Just as I was replacing 

 them the animal, without the slightest warning, charged again, 



