CHAP. ii. RHINOCEROS. 73 



twenty miles distant, where the native who guided us 

 had assured us we should find plenty of water, as well as 

 the buffalo we were after ; but on getting there at sunset 

 we found the hole dried up, only about a breakfast-cup- 

 ful of liquid mud being procurable after digging as deep 

 as we could without a spade, and in consequence we were 

 forced to sleep the whole night, and hunt the whole of the 

 next day without a drop to drink, until, when nearly 

 exhausted after upwards of thirty hours without being 

 even able to moisten our tongues, we had seen the fresh 

 track of game that ultimately landed us at this water-hole. 



It was already so late, and the sufferings we had all 

 undergone without water under that broiling sun had so 

 fatigued us, that it was determined we should sleep where 

 we were, and not attempt to reach camp that night, 

 especially as, having killed nothing, and there being plenty 

 of fresh spoor about, we were in no particular hurry to 

 return now that we had found water ; all places being 

 much alike to hunters so long as there is game to be 

 found. Two of my comrades therefore started off in 

 different directions to look for food, and I did the same, 

 as soon as I had pointed out to the boy who carried my 

 mat the spot to form the camp in. 



At first I followed some of the buffalo-tracks which 

 were so numerous, but after going a little distance I 

 found that they joined, and the footprint of one of the 

 hunters warning me that he was already after them, and 

 that it would be useless for me to go further, I turned off 

 into the thickets and glades in search of anything that 

 might be feeding, and just at dusk I saw a white cocked- 

 up tail about twenty yards off. The thicket was too dense 



