156 THE GAME OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



of their spoor, after having made a detour.* You spoor them up for the rest of 

 the day, but do not again come up with them, and thus the second day ends 

 uneventfully. 



It becomes necessary now to shoot something to replenish the larder, even if it 

 is only a common animal, for the meat problem is getting serious ; so, early the next 

 morning, you go down to the water and there find the fresh tracks of a rhino. You 

 follow them up with all due caution, for, as I have said, this animal is dangerous when 

 in the bush. When the spoor leads across the wind it is necessary to keep a 

 constant look-out downwind, for it is unwise to let him have your wind without 

 first seeing him. 



This is a point to be very careful about — not only in the bush, but in the long, 

 tangled and matted grass which is such a favourite resort of this beast. Whenever 

 circumstances force you to walk across wind, you should keep a constant look- 

 out over your shoulder downwind. For if a rhino is lying in this stuff he will be 

 invisible as he lies ; but, once you have crossed him and he has your wind, he will 

 stand up. 



So this morning, as you feel the wind on your left cheeks, you keep glancing 

 backwards over your right shoulder. This caution stands you in good stead, for 

 suddenly from behind a bush looms up the head and horns of a bull rhino sniffing the 

 wind and peering round. There is no time to lose, for in another minute he will be 

 either bolting or coming towards you with a series of engine-like puffs. 



It is necessary to decide in a moment whether the horns are a good enough 

 trophy to form one of the two allowed on the licence. If they are not good enough, 

 you had better skip at once, and try to get out of the wind and near a climbable tree. 

 He will probably bolt away, but it is not worth taking the chances, for " the excep- 

 tions that prove the rule " are frequent enough, especially in places where rhinos 

 have been much harassed. Presuming the horn is good enough, then, if the sports- 

 man has only a small bore, he should put a bullet diagonally through the forehead 

 and into the brain, taking care that the horn is not in the line of fire, or it may 

 deflect the bullet, and also one of the horns will be spoilt as a trophy. With a big 

 bore, a crashing shot into the chest or shoulder is the safest, as it allows a greater 

 margin for error. 



But to resume ; I will assume that the horns look a good enough trophy, and 

 that the shot fired goes home, and I will leave the reader to decide according to his 



* Some people say that they do not do this purposely. I think, however, they do it often enough to show 

 that it is done with intent. Only the day before revising this a Congo buffalo treated me in this fashion, 

 making a wide sweep round and taking up a position some fifty yards downwind of his tracks. 



