CH. IV] RHINOCEROS 89 



The morning was a blank, but early in the afternoon 

 we saw the eland herd again. They were around a tree 

 in an open space, and we could not get near them. 

 But instead of going straight away they struck off to 

 the riglit and described almost a semicircle, and though 

 they were over four hundred yards distant, they were 

 such big creatures and their gait was so steady that 1 

 felt warranted in shooting. On the dry plain 1 could 

 mark where my bullets fell, and though I could not get 

 a good chance at the bull, I finally downed a fine cow ; 

 and by pacing I found it to be a little over a quarter of 

 a mile from where I stood when shooting. 



It was about nine miles from camp, and I dared not 

 leave the eland alone, so I stationed one of the gun- 

 bearers by the great carcass and sent a messenger in to 

 Heller, on whom we depended for preserving the skins 

 of the big game. Hardly had this been done when a 

 Wakamba man came running up to tell us that there 

 was a rhinoceros on the hill-side three-quarters of a 

 mile away, and that he had left a companion to watch 

 it while he carried us the news. Slatter and I immedi- 

 ately rode in the direction given, following our wild- 

 looking guide ; the other gun-bearer trotting after us. 

 In five minutes we had reached the opposite hill-crest, 

 where the watcher stood, and he at once pointed out 

 the rhino. The huge beast was standing in entirely 

 open country, although there were a few scattered trees 

 of no great size at some little distance from him. We 

 left our horses in a dip of the ground and began the 

 approach ; I cannot say that we stalked him, for the 

 i approach was too easy. The wind blew from him to 

 j us, and a rhino's eyesight is dull. Thirty yards from 

 I where he stood was a bush four or five feet high, and 

 though it was so thin that we could distinctly see him 



