GLIMPSES OF EAST AFRICA AND ZANZIBAR 



by the signs was evidently their lair, which they lay 

 in during the heat of the day. It was one of the 

 most exciting hours I have had, something like play- 

 ing hide-and-seek as children in the dark, creeping 

 along in the track of the rhino, trying to make no 

 noise, and half bent as the bushes met again above 

 the height of the rhinos. At every corner we turned 

 we expected to see a huge black head waiting for us. 

 The rhino must have been aware of us behind them, 

 as in their nervous excitement they left steaming 

 spoor behind, which showed us they could not be 

 far ahead. 



Presently we came to an open bit of ground, and 

 all of us, I think, breathed more freely. The tracks 

 took us down beside a river, sometimes crossing it 

 after our having lost the tracks in the long reeds 

 and grass. Several times we began to feel that we 

 had not the strength to go on farther — we did not 

 begin our hunt till we had already marched for 

 some hours, and by that time it was nearly two 

 o'clock and the sun was very hot and powerful. 

 The river was leading us a mile or two from the 

 place we wanted to camp on, so we reluctantly gave 

 up the chase and slowly plodded back, just as the 

 porters were appearing along a path at the base of 

 the hills. My husband hoped he might get the old 

 rhino on its return at night, as evidently it had 

 followed the stream down to where the water 

 joined another, a mile or two farther on, where I 



126 



