In Untrodden Paths 



but there was no time for speculation. I gave 

 him the other barrel, and luckily he tumbled 

 down a couple of yards away, shot in the neck, 

 and died almost instantaneously. On examining 

 him after he had been cut open, I found that it 

 was really the first bullet that had killed him. 

 An animal shot in the heart, although dead to all 

 intents and purposes, invariably makes a sudden 

 rush in any direction for perhaps fifty yards or 

 so before he falls down. The second shot, there- 

 fore, was unnecessary, although, of course, I 

 could not possibly have known that at the time. 

 His horns were nothing to speak of, but the 

 body was all meat. The porters, with loud 

 shouts, at once set upon it to cut it up. The 

 head, feet, tongue, and tail were reserved for me, 

 as usual — rhino-tail soup is excellent — and when 

 a couple of ribs had been hacked away one of my 

 small boys plunged bodily into the cavity, and 

 after groping about for a few minutes appeared 

 again, smothered in blood, jubilantly holding up 

 the kidneys for my inspection ; I thanked him 

 and said he might keep them. 



On joining the Anglo-German Boundary Com- 

 mission, I arrived at my destination on my birth- 

 day, so it was an occasion of rejoicing for me, 

 the more so because I had finished a lonely march 

 through the wilderness and had reached the abode 

 of my friends. 



63 



