THE UGLIEST BEAST IN THE WORLD 205 



hand, while the other went off in search of the animals. 

 After ' becreeping ' them, as it is called in that district, 

 for some distance, the bushman saw two clumsy forms 

 lying asleep under a grove of trees, which proved to be 

 a young rhinoceros and its mother. He threw a stone 

 to wake them, and when they jumped up in a rage, he 

 threw a second. The mother looked round to see who 

 the rude person could be that was disturbing her midday 

 nap, and perceiving the bushman, made a dash for him. 

 He had barely time to rush to the nearest tree, and had 

 hardly begun to climb it, when the enraged beast came 

 up, and drove her horns right into the tree and straight 

 between the man's legs, thus giving him time to draw 

 himself higher up out of her reach. She then turned and, 

 followed by the calf, made off toward the stone hut where 

 the other bushman lay hidden. As she passed his 

 assegai touched her shoulder, and after staggering a few 

 steps, she fell dead. The man then aimed his other assegai 

 at the calf, and as it too dropped instantly, he came out 

 of his shelter, while his friend, running up, jumped on the 

 back of the old rhinoceros, and exclaimed, shouting for 

 joy : ' Now I see you are your father's son this day.' 



