118 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



bush I fired into its flank both the bullets still remaining 

 in my magazine. 



For a moment or two after it disappeared we heard 

 the branches crash, and then there was silence. In such 

 cover a wounded rhino requires cautious handling, and as 

 quietly as possible we walked through the open forest 

 along the edge of the dense thicket into which the animal 

 had returned. The thicket was a tangle of thorn bushes, 

 reeds, and small, low-branching trees; it was impossible 

 to see ten feet through it, and a man could only penetrate 

 it with the utmost slowness and difficulty, whereas the 

 movements of the rhino were very little impeded. At the 

 far end of the thicket we examined the grass to see if the 

 rhino had passed out, and sure enough there was the spoor, 

 with so much blood along both sides that it was evident 

 the animal was badly hit. It led across this space and into 

 another thicket of the same character as the first; and 

 again we stole cautiously along the edge some ten yards 

 out. I had taken the heavy Holland double-barrel, and 

 with the safety catch pressed forward under my thumb, I 

 trod gingerly through the grass, peering into the thicket 

 and expectant of developments. In a minute there was 

 a furious snorting and crashing directly opposite us in the 

 thicket, and I brought up my rifle; but the rhino did not 

 quite place us, and broke out of the cover in front, some 

 thirty yards away; and I put both barrels into and behind 

 the shoulder. The terrific striking force of the heavy gun 

 told at once, and the rhino wheeled, and struggled back 

 into the thicket, and we heard it fall. With the utmost 

 caution, bending and creeping under the branches, we made 

 our way in, and saw the beast lying with its head toward us. 



