108 IN BRIGHTEST AFRICA 
behind and took my rifle from the gun boy who had 
come up with equal celerity and bravery. I drew a 
bead on the old fellow but I could not shoot. A 
stupider or more ludicrous looking object I never 
saw. I began talking to him, but it did not rouse 
him from his lethargy. There he stood, half asleep 
and totally oblivious, while I, with the gun half aimed, 
talked to him about his ugly self. About this time 
my porters came into hearing on a path behind the 
rhino. He pricked up his ears and blundered off in 
that direction. I heard the loads dropping as the 
porters made for the trees. The rhino charged 
through the safari and off into the bush. 
At another time, somewhat later, three of them 
charged me when [ was sitting down and unarmed. 
I couldn’t rise in time to get away or reach a gun, so 
I merely continued to sit. This time they didn’t stop 
and doze, but they went by on both sides ten or fifteen 
feet away. Such a charge was much more pleasing 
to me and apparently quite as satisfactory to them as 
one in which they were successful in their attack. 
These experiences have led me to think that in his 
blundering charges the rhino has no clear objective, as 
a lion has, for instance. Even his blundering charge 
is dangerous, of course, if you are in the way, but I 
firmly believe that the rhino is too stupid to be either 
accurate in his objective, fixed in his purpose, or 
vindictive in his intentions. 
This does not mean that a lot of people have not 
been killed by rhinos. They have; but I do believe 
that compared with other African animals the danger 
