JUJA FARM; HIPPO AND LEOPARD 117 



a very small and brilliantly colored kingfisher, with a red 

 beak and large turquoise crest, perched unheedingly with- 

 in a few feet of us. Here and there a dense growth of the 

 tall and singularly graceful papyrus rose out of the water, 

 the feathery heads, which crowned the long smooth green 

 stems, waving gently to and fro. 



We scanned the waters carefully, and could see no sign 

 of hippos, and, still proceeding with the utmost caution, we 

 moved a hundred yards farther down to another lookout. 

 Here the Masai detected a hippo head a long way off on 

 the other side of the pool; and we again drew back and 

 started cautiously forward to reach the point opposite which 

 he had seen the head. 



But we were not destined to get that hippo. Just as 

 we had about reached the point at which we had intended 

 to turn in toward the pool, there was a succession of snorts 

 in our front and the sound of the trampling of heavy feet 

 and of a big body being shoved through a dense mass of 

 tropical bush. My companions called to me in loud whis- 

 pers that it was a rhinoceros coming at us, and to "Shoot, 

 shoot." In another moment the rhinoceros appeared, 

 twitching its tail and tossing and twisting its head from side 

 to side as it came toward us. It did not seem to have very 

 good horns, and I would much rather not have killed it; 

 but there hardly seemed any alternative, for it certainly 

 showed every symptom of being bent on mischief. My 

 first shot, at under forty yards, produced no effect what- 

 ever, except to hasten its approach. I was using the Win- 

 chester, with full-jacketed bullets; my second bullet went 

 in between the neck and shoulder, bringing it to a halt. I 

 fired into the shoulder again, and as it turned toward the 



