3'4 



A WHOLE ARMFUL. 



PONDEROUS GAME. 



"That's well enough," remarked Jack Harvey, after taking a hasty survey of the 

 carcass, "but where's the youngster?" 



It seemed curious that the mother should have come to this spot, and aban- 

 doned her offspring, 

 when the latter was so 

 very young, for the rhi- 

 noceros and her progeny 

 display a strong affec- 

 tion for each other. Our 

 friends believed the little 

 one could not be far off, 

 the mother probably hav- 

 ing been on her way to 

 it when she discovered 

 the approach of the hunt- 

 ers, and stopped to give 

 them battle. 



" I wish it was earlier 

 in the day," said Jack, 

 who was riding slowly 

 around in a circle, and 



peering among the grass in the hope of catching sight of the youngster. 

 " We can come back in the morning." 



" But there's no telling what may happen between now and then." 

 " It would be cruel to leave the little one without any attendance," said Dick, 

 " and it will make a hole in our supply of milk I say, Bob," he suddenly added in a 

 whisper; "there's something moving through the grass right ahead of us." 



Diedrick had caught sight of the object and hastened toward it. The next in- 

 stant he called out that the young rhinoceros was found, and the party closed 

 around the prize. 



It was one of the funniest sights you can imagine. About the size of a large, 

 chunky dog, it was so ugly-looking that no one could view it without laughing, as 

 it came waddling through the grass, poking its comical snout here and there in 

 quest of its mother. It paid no attention to the horsemen and would have pushed 

 its way straight to the inanimate parent, had they not interposed their animals 

 across its path. 



"Well, I'll be hanged!" exclaimed Jack Harvey, with a laugh; "I've seen a 

 good many homely-looking things in my life, but that beats them all." 



The youngster, finding its way blocked, raised its head and looked up at the 

 hunters as if to inquire what it all meant. Its body was pig-shaped, its legs short, 

 round and unsymmetrical, and its head bore some resemblance to that of a calf 

 swollen much out of shape. Just above its blunt nose was a hump, the beginning 

 of the horn, which does not acquire its full growth for eight or ten years. 



