354 THE ELEPHANT. 



guns and other things to our encampment. In a 

 few words I related to him what had befallen me. 

 He listened with seeming incredulity ; but the sight 

 of my gashed thigh soon convinced him that I was 

 not in joke. 



I afterwards directed him to take one of the 

 guns and proceed in search of the wounded rhi- 

 noceros, cautioning him to be careful in approach- 

 ino- the beast, which I had reason to believe was not 



O * 



yet dead. He had only been absent a few minutes, 

 when I heard a cry of distress. Striking my hand 

 against my forehead, I exclaimed, " Good God ! the 

 brute has attacked the lad also." 



Seizing hold of my rifle, I scrambled through 

 the bushes as fast as my crippled condition would 

 permit ; and, when I had proceeded two or three 

 hundred yards, a scene suddenly presented itself 

 that I shall vividly remember to the last days of 

 my existence. Amongst some bushes, and within 

 a couple of yards of each other, stood the rhinoceros 

 and the young savage ; the former supporting her- 

 self on three legs, covered with blood and froth, 

 and snorting in the most furious manner ; the latter 

 petrified with fear spell-bound, as it were and 

 riveted to the spot. Creeping, therefore, to the 

 side of the rhinoceros opposite to that on which 

 the boy was standing, so as to draw her attention 

 from him, I levelled and fired, on which the beast 

 charged wildly to and fro, without any distinct 

 object, and whilst she was thus occupied, I poured 

 into her body shot after shot, but thought she 

 would never fall. 



