DIEDRICK'S VICISSITUDES. 



but, as he could not afford to lose his horse, the Hottentot continued the chase. 

 He grew more savage every minute. The animal was beyond hearing, and was 

 doubtless increasing the space at a rapid rate. Diedrick soon had little breath 

 left, while the prospect of losing the steed was fast resolving itself into a certainty. 



By-and-by the native was compelled to drop down to a slow walk, tramping 

 heavily and wearily, and speculating as to which animal he felt the fiercest resent- 

 ment against. He was angry toward the rhinoceros, as a matter of course, but he 

 expected much better things of his intelligent horse. 



He was in no special fear of the former, for he had killed more than one of his 

 kind, and was confident that with his loaded gun he was a master of any he might 

 encounter. 



His belief was that the pursuit of the horse by the rhinoceros could not last 

 long, for the pursuer must soon lose sight of him in the grass and see that the 

 chase was hopeless. 



Diedrick expected to come up with his pony in a brief while, but to his dismay 

 he learned, when he examined the ground at his feet, that he was off the trail 

 altogether. 



For a few minutes succeeding this discovery, he was the best specimen of a 

 Hottentot "mad clear through " that can be imagined. Convinced, finally, that it 

 was useless to follow him, he turned to rejoin his friends. What followed has 

 already been told. 



