With Flashlight and Rifle -+ 



after months upon his back, seems to have exercised a 

 wonderful fascination for the species. Wherever he went, 

 there rhinoceroses were sure to spring- up ! But in the 

 course of his long sojourn among the Bedouins of Sinai, 

 he had acquired a stoical habit of calm, and now he lets 

 the brute dash through the caravan and bluster away into 

 the distance. All he did was to send after it an inde- 

 scribably strong Arabic oath as it disappeared in a storm 

 of dust. I had to congratulate myself upon "a narrow 

 escape "-illustrating that English expression once again. 

 On the same day I saw four other rhinoceroses, among 

 them a mother with her young. Soon afterwards a deeply 

 trodden track leading to a rocky pool in the driest part 

 of the velt tempted me to go in for a night's shooting. 

 In these regions the nights get very cold. Accompanied 

 by some of my men, and provided with a few woollen 

 coverings, lanterns, etc., I decided to take my stand by 

 the edge of the gorge. However, we had not taken into 

 account sufficiently the suddenness with which the sun 

 sets in these parts. We got belated en route, lost our 

 way, and soon found ourselves plunged in absolute dark- 

 ness, with some hours to wait before the appearance of 

 the moon. Scattered rocks and troublesome long grass 

 made it difficult for us to make any progress, so there 

 seemed to be nothing for it but to turn back to our camp. 

 That also proved impossible, so I decided to wait where 

 we were until the moon should appear, at nine o'clock, 

 and enable us to retrace our steps. There we stayed, 

 therefore, among the bits of rock which had cut our knees 

 and the sharp briars and dense tough grass, prisoners 



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