134 LARGE GAME. chap. ii. 



made by the harder hoof being so much more clear and 

 well defined. I had in consequence to go slowly until I 

 reached the thicket, where it became easier, and after 

 tracking them for some distance the spoor led us into an 

 extremely thick mass of ukaku thorns, along an old 

 rhinoceros path which wound through it. Here at last I 

 overtook them, and caught a glimpse of one, and though 

 the only part of its body that I could see was the fore 

 shoulder, I at once fired. With a succession of tremendous 

 snorts they instantly charged. 



It would be quite impossible for me to describe what 

 occurred. One saw me as I tried to get away, and chased 

 me as I dodged through and in and out of the thick 

 thorns, until at last I found myself alone, hardly knowing 

 how I got there, standing breathless and bleeding, my 

 clothes torn to ribbons, my cap gone, and scarcely a square 

 inch of my body that had not its particular thorn. My 

 bearer had disappeared — it had been much against his will 

 our ever following them, and I did not see him again that 

 day — but I was so thoroughly roused by the pain I was 

 in, that after loading, as soon as I could find my gun, I 

 did not lose a moment in getting on the spoor, which I 

 was glad to find spotted with blood. They did not stand 

 again for several miles, but ultimately went to a place 

 that I knew well. It was a large patch of thorn by the 

 river, and in the centre were several cactus-trees, round 

 which the tangle was so thick, that except at one spot 

 there was no entrance. Some years before a native 

 hunter had been found dead in it, with a buffalo lying a 

 few yards off unable to rise, and ever since the spot had 

 been avoided. Just before reaching it the spoors had 



