320 THE LAND OF THE: TION 
his horn as sharp, everything keeps out of his way, so 
he lives on, a surly, ill-natured, dangerous, and quite 
useless life; occupying ground that more useful and 
beautiful things need. Surely a striking illustration, in 
the animal world, of that universal truth we are so prone 
to forget: that easy times do not always make for real 
usefulness or greatness. 
Only the other day my friend the missionary, Mr. 
Shauffaker, very nearly lost his life in an encounter with 
a rhino. He is preéminently a man of peace, and gen- 
erally rides, more often walks, on his way unarmed. On 
this occasion he borrowed a mule from another mission- 
ary, for the road he must take was a long one. As he 
was passing through some thickish brush he was, with 
out warning, incontinently charged by a rhino. Such 
an onslaught is usually made with exceeding swiftness, and 
though his mule swerved for its life, the cruel horns pinned 
him. Mr. Shauffaker is a young and very active man. 
He threw himself off and darted behind a friendly bush, 
but all in vain. The furious beast crashed through the 
dense shrubbery, carrying everything before him, and 
when my friend came to himself, for he was partly stunned, 
he held in his hand a small remnant of his sun umbrella, 
while a cloud of dust and trailing brush and the rest of 
the umbrella decorating his horn showed where the rhino 
was still furiously charging away. 
During the night rhino seldom troubled the camp. 
But Mr. Percivale, one of the game wardens appointed 
by the British East African Government, told me of an 
extraordinary escape that he had lately had. He had 
risen about two in the morning, leaving his tent and his 
companion who was sleeping in it, for a few moments. 
Rhino had not been common in the neighbourhood for 
some time. Suddenly in the pitchy blackness, for there 
was no moon, a dark animal rushed by him. There 
