THE LAST FRONTIER 



"A gunbearer carries the gun away from the 

 branches," was my only comment. 



Shortly after occurred an incident by way of 

 deeper test. We were all riding rather idly along 

 the easy slope below the foothills. The grass was 

 short, so we thought we could see easily everything 

 there was to be seen; but, as we passed some thirty 

 yards from a small tree, an unexpected and unneces- 

 sary rhinoceros rose from an equally unexpected 

 and unnecessary green hollow beneath the tree, and 

 charged us. He made straight for Billy. Her 

 mule, panicstricken, froze with terror in spite of 

 Billy's attack with a parasol. I spurred my own 

 animal between her and the charging brute, with 

 some vague idea of slipping off the other side as the 

 rhino struck. F. and B. leaped from their own ani- 

 mals, and F., with a little .28 calibre rifle, took 

 a hasty shot at the big brute. Now, of course 

 a .28 calibre rifle would hardly injure a rhino, 

 but the bullet happened to catch his right shoulder 

 just as he was about to come down on his 

 right foot. The shock tripped him up as neat- 

 ly as though he had been upset by a rope. At 

 the same instant Billy's mule came to its senses 

 and bolted, whereupon I too jumped off. The 

 whole thing took about two finger snaps of 

 time. At the instant I hit the ground, Fundi 



200 



