THE RHINOCEROS 



room," I used to put a small bullet in the flesh of the 

 outer part of the shoulder. The wound thus in- 

 flicted was not at all serious, but the shock of the 

 bullet usually turned the beast. This was generally 

 in the direction of the wounded shoulder, which 

 would indicate that the brute turned toward the ap- 

 parent source of the attack, probably for the purpose 

 of getting even. At any rate, the shot turned the 

 rush to one side, and the rhinoceros, as usual, went 

 right on through. If, however, he seemed to mean 

 business, or was too close for comfort, the point to 

 aim for was the neck just above the lowered horn. 



In my own experience I came to establish a 

 " dead line " about twenty yards from myself. That 

 seemed to be as near as I cared to let the brutes 

 come. Up to that point I let them alone on the 

 chance that they might swerve or change their minds, 

 as they often did. But inside of twenty yards, 

 whether the rhinoceros meant to charge me, or was 

 merely running blindly by, did not particularly 

 matter. Even in the latter case he might happen to 

 catch sight of me and change his mind. Thus, 

 looking over my notebook records, I find that I was 

 "charged" forty odd times that is to say, the 

 rhinoceros rushed in my general direction. Of this 

 lot I can be sure of but three, and possibly four, that 

 certainly meant mischief. Six more came so directly 



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