<+> Rhinoceroses 



that was blowing enabled me to approach within fifteen 

 yards of him, where a small thorn-bush served as cover 

 for me. I aimed carefully at his ear, but with a mighty 

 jerk he wheeled round on his hind-legs, thus affording me 

 a better aim. My second bullet, discharged at so short a 

 distance from behind, brought him down. He was killed 

 on the spot. The appearance of this earth-coloured 

 monster, so deceptively like a tree-stump sticking out of 

 the storm-swept velt, often comes back to my memory, 

 especially when I am seized with a fresh longing for 

 the Masai-Nyika life and the velt calls to me again. 



Some years later, when I had made it a rule to shoot 

 only big specimens, I brought down an extraordinarily 

 large old bull rhinoceros, which had taken to flight on- 

 receiving an ineffective shot on the shoulder, but which made 

 for me on getting a second shot as rhinoceroses often 

 do and fell dead only some ten paces from where I 

 stood. There was a cow rhinoceros quite near the bull 

 when I first hit the latter, and both animals charged at 

 each other head-down, the bull imagining that it was the 

 cow that had damaged him. The agility and quickness 

 with which the huge beast moved I shall never forget. 



In the hunting of big game, as in all other dangerous 

 occupations, confidence grows steadily in proportion to 

 the perils one has already coped with successfully. Sooner 

 or later, however, a mishap is certain to be encountered,, 

 and the more experience one has in pursuing lions, buffaloes, 

 elephants, and rhinoceroses the more careful one becomes. 



While stalking kudus once on the shores of the Jipe 

 Lake I was startled by the sudden appearance of a 



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