THE PINJIH RHINO. 27 



fied at having got through the opening stages of the 

 campaign. 



Though no result was seen that day, Pa' Senik's 

 offering had not been without its effect, for not many 

 days later a Malay came hot-foot in search of Malias, 

 and told him that he had that morning seen the fresh 

 tracks of the rhinoceros crossing a native path some 

 twelve miles away. Pa' Senik was sent for, kit and 

 provisions packed, coolies collected and despatched, 

 and that night we all slept in our informant's house. 

 It stood in a small clearing, in the depths of the forest. 

 A few hundred yards away from the door a precipitous 

 limestone hill rose sheer out of the level plain, and 

 towered some seven hundred feet above our heads. At 

 sunset numbers of jungle-fowl crowed and called on 

 every side as they came down to drink at a little 

 stream behind the house ; and a party of black gibbons 

 made the echoes ring with their ear-piercing whoops. 

 The wild goat lived on this limestone hill, our host 

 Hussein informed us; one could hear them bleat at 

 night, and they often came down from the precipitous 

 heights to feed round his clearing, but they were very 

 rarely seen. We went to sleep early, and the next 

 morning I woke my men at half-past four. A tiger 

 had roared close to the house during the night, and 

 this made Pa' Senik rather apprehensive of the omen 

 regarding the tiger tracks crossing the rhinoceros 

 tracks. We made a good breakfast, and while the 

 first jungle-cock was shrilling his clear challenge and 

 the gibbons went whooping through the tree-tops in 

 search of food, we started to make a wide cast through 

 the forest to find fresh tracks of the rhinoceros. With- 



