THE PINJIH RHINO. 43 



and looked on with folded arms. It was not in the 

 company of such mere mortals as Malias and myself 

 that he had been hunting : for the last three days he 

 had been in the mighty presence of the Earth Spirit, 

 who step for step had been with us in the forest. In 

 Pa' Senik's eyes the day's success was the result of 

 the promise made when Che Mat had been possessed, 

 and only a line at the corner of his mouth and a 

 gleam in his old eyes showed the grim satisfaction 

 with which he viewed the victim of the compact. 



After a short rest I sent Pa' Senik and the two 

 Malays to the house where we had slept three nights 

 before to fetch my servants, my clothes, and my 

 camera, and ordered Malias to follow me to Pinjih 

 village to get some pack -elephants to carry the 

 rhinoceros' head and feet. 



It was with the greatest difficulty that I induced 

 Malias to leave the body. 



" Some one must stay and look after it," he said. 



"But it's dead now," I objected. 



" Yes," he said with firm conviction ; " but it was 

 dead after Kanda Daud shot it, and it came to life 

 again and nearly killed him." 



And he then asked to be allowed to stay behind, 

 to shoot it again if it showed any symptoms of re- 

 turning vitality. 



It was with some trouble that he was finally per- 

 suaded to come away ; but not even then would he 

 move until he had hacked one of the hind-feet nearly 

 off. 



" If he does go, he will go lame," he said. 



We found Pinjih village seething with excitement. 



