88 THROUGH GASA LAND. 



the reverse side of the head. The result surprised 

 me ; the rhinoceros, with a bound — no other words 

 suit better — rushed forward exactly in the direction it 

 was heading for ten or twelve strides ; the pace, for 

 so cumbersome a brute, was astounding ; when sud- 

 denly the whole animal machinery failed in its action, 

 and the 6ore/efe\\ ; dead, I believe, before the carcass 

 was thoroughly stretched upon the ground. 



I got uncommonly well out of the fray, but there 

 was just a sufficiency of danger in the whole affair 

 to make me mentally resolve to leave, in future, 

 black rhinoceros alone when out in the open, and 

 no cover or shelter within reach. Throughout 

 the whole contretemps Dame Fortune wonderfully 

 favoured me, but if the fickle jade had played me any 

 of her tricks I feel convinced I would not have lived 

 to get out of the scrape. It is no proof of bravery to 

 court death in the hunting-field, nor is it a mark of 

 cowardice to use due precautions to ensure the 

 protection of your life. Take my word for it, 

 reader, a wounded black rhinoceros is a truly fearful 

 opponent unless you are well mounted, and he who 

 accomplishes its destruction on foot performs no 

 ordinary deed of daring, unless luck should favour 

 him, as it did me on this occasion. 



There never was a less jealous triumvirate of 

 sportsmen than our party, but for all that I had an 

 intense desire to kill the first rhinoceros, or, in fact, 

 the first specimen of any description of big game 



