WILD LIFE ACROSS THE WORLD 



excitement when the rhino were charging. I suppose 

 I was really too greatly interested in my own share 

 of the game to think of anj^hing else. But those Masai 

 must have stood their ground well, for I found their 

 spears all bent and twisted. The animal I had hit 

 was dying when we went up to him, my bullet having 

 done its work thoroughly. Certainly that one shot 

 had saved my life and had probably saved Clark's 

 as well ; for I expect that it also had the effect of 

 turning the second rhino in his course, otherwise I 

 do not understand why he went round to the back of 

 the tree and then bolted. He must have been scared 

 by the report. Clark's rifle had jammed. 



Incidentally, the affair gave me an opportunity 

 of seeing the work of the scavengers of the African 

 veldt, the jackals, marabou storks, and vultures. My 

 rhino weighed fully three tons, yet by five o'clock 

 the following day there was nothing left of him save 

 the bones. 



That evening, when I came to think over the 

 adventure, it struck me that it would be interesting to 

 compare notes with my companions. It had all happened 

 so quickly, and every one of us had been so fully 

 occupied with his own peril, that I presumed we had 

 all seen it in different lights. Clark fell in with the idea, 

 and in turn the five of us who had taken part related 

 our narratives. No two of these agreed, even in what 

 anyone else would have considered to be the essentials. 



100 



