THE PINJIH RHINO. 33 



followed, and after another mile came up with him 

 for the fourth time, when, after a series of similar 

 demonstrations, he gave me a clear shot at twenty- 

 five yards at the base of his spine. He again went 

 straight away ; but the blood showed that both 

 this bullet and the one before had taken effect, and 

 when we came on a place where the poor brute had 

 lain down we made certain of him. Though we 

 followed the tracks until four o'clock we failed, how- 

 ever, to come up with him again. It was now within 

 two hours of sundown, and as we had only a rough 

 idea of where we were, it was necessary to think of 

 getting back. We therefore waited for the other 

 men to come up to us, and then discussed the 

 position : the house from which we had started that 

 morning was many miles behind us, and it was 

 out of the question to think of returning there. 

 Where was the nearest house ? On this question 

 there was a divided opinion, and one of the de- 

 baters climbed a tree to prove his case, and, 

 descending, admitted like a man that he was wrong. 

 From the tree he could see a grove of durian- 

 trees ; and towards this spot we made our way, for 

 we knew that from the grove a native track would 

 lead to the nearest village. Before we left the 

 tracks we marked a tree or two, so as to be able 

 to start the next morning where we now left off, 

 and then made our way toward the durian-trees. 

 When we arrived there we found that we were 

 within two or three miles of Pa' Senik's house, which 

 we reached within another hour. The actual dis- 

 tance we had followed the rhinoceros from sunrise 



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