802 HUNTING ADVENTURES. 



yards in advance. He had not observed us ; and soon after he 

 walked slowly toward KS, and stood broadside to, eating some 

 wait-a-bit thorns within fifty yards of me. I fired from my saddle, 

 and sent a bullet in behind his shoulder, upon which he rushed 

 forward about one hundred yards in tjjemendous consternation, 

 blowing like a grampus, and then stood looking about him. Pre- 

 sently he made off. I followed, but found it hard to come up with 

 him. When I overtook him I saw the blood running freely from 

 his T -vound. 



The chase led through a large herd of blue wildebeests, zebras, 

 and springboks, which gazed at us in utter amazement. At length 

 I fired my second barrel, but my horse was fidgety, and I missed. 

 I continued riding alongside of him, expecting in my ignorance 

 that at length he would come to bay, which rhinoceroses never 

 do ; when suddenly he fell flat on his broadside on the ground, 

 but, recovering his feet, resumed his course as if nothing had hap- 

 pened. Becoming at last annoyed at the length of the chase, as I 

 wished to keep my horses fresh for the elephants, and being indif- 

 ferent whether I got the rhinoceros or not, as I observed that his 

 horn was completely worn down with age and the violence of his 

 disposition, I determined to bring matters to a crisis ; so, spurring 

 my horse, I dashed ahead, and rode right in his path. Upon this 

 the hideous monster instantly charged me in the most resolute 

 manner, blowing loudly through his nostrils ; and, although I 

 quickly wheeled about to my left, he followed me at such a furious 

 pace for several hundred yards, with his horrid horny snout within 

 a few yards of my horse's tail, that my little Bushman, who was 

 looking on in great alarm, thought his master's destruction inevita- 

 ble. It was certainly a very near thing; my horse was extremely 

 afraid, and exerted his utmost energies on the occasion. The rhi- 

 noceros, however, wheeled about, and continued his former course, 

 and I, being perfectly satisfied with the interview which 1 had 

 already enjoyed with him, had no desire to cultivate his acquaint- 

 ance any further, and accordingly made for camp. We /eft the 

 fountain of Bob'tlonamy the same day, and marched about six 



