HUNTING THE ZEBRA AND RHINOCEROS. 385 



unmanageable, and on one occasion, in consequence, the 

 rhinoceros, finding herself hemmed in by a bend in a water- 

 course, turned round to charge : I had a very narrow escape. 

 Presently, galloping up on one side, I gave her a bad wound 

 in the shoulder, soon after which she came to bay in the dry 

 bed of a river. Dismounting from my horse, I commenced 

 loading, but before this was accomplished she was off once 

 more. I followed her, putting on my caps as I rode, and 

 coming up alongside I made a fine shot from the saddle, firing 

 at the gallop. The ball entered somewhere near the heart. 

 On receiving this shot she reeled about, while torrents of blood 

 streamed from her mouth and wounds, and presently she 

 rolled over and expired uttering a shrill screaming sound as 

 she died, which rhinoceroses invariably do in the agonies of 

 death. 



The chase had led me close in along the northern base of 

 a lofty detached mountain, the highest in all that country. 

 This mountain is called by the Bechuanas, the Mountain of 

 the Eagles. The eland which I had shot in the morning lay 

 somewhere to the southward of this mountain, but far in the 

 level forest. Having rounded the mountain, I began to re- 

 cognise the ground, and presently I had the satisfaction to 

 behold a few vultures soaring over the forest in advance, and, 

 on proceeding a short distance farther, large groups of these 

 birds were seated on the gray and weather-beaten branches 

 of the loftiest trees of the forest. This was a certain sign 

 that the eland was not far distant ; and on raising my voice 

 and calling loudly on the name of Carollus, I was instantly 

 answered by that individual, who, heedless of his master's 

 fate, was actively employod in cooking for himself a choice 

 steak from the dainty rump of the eland. That night I slept 

 beneath the blue and starry canopy of heaven. My sleep was 

 light and sweet, and no rude dreams or hankering cares 

 disturbed the equanimity of my repose. 



33 



