With Flashlight and Rifle -* 



by rhinoceroses, and even when not at such close quarters 

 an encounter with them is often dangerous and exciting. 



My first encounter with the "e'muny" of the Masai 

 happened towards evening, in the middle of a charred and 

 blackened plain, that had been on fire that very day. 



Never shall I forget the impression made on me by 

 this uncouth animal mass, standing in its rugged clumsiness 

 in the midst ot that gloomy landscape, illuminated by the 

 slanting and uncertain rays of the setting sun. With its 

 head high in the air (the monster had already become 

 aware of our approach), its mighty horns pointing upwards, 

 and its gigantic outline showing against the red of the 

 evening sky, it seemed to be merged in the black ground 

 on which it stood. 



My heart beat frantically, and my hand was not steady 

 as, partially screened by a thorn-bush, half of which had 

 been spared by the fire, I let off my elephant-gun from 

 a distance of a hundred paces. At my shot the " Faru " 

 came snorting towards me, and it was only at my second 

 shot, when he was very close indeed, that he turned to 

 the left, and, snorting loudly, took to flight across the 

 plain. My servants seemed to have vanished from the 

 face of the earth. 



The scene was enacted in such a short space of time, 

 and made such a powerful impression on me the apparent 

 uselessness of my weapon against the great animal was 

 so crushing, the swiftness and agility that he had displayed 

 at the last so astonishing that from that moment the 

 picture I had had in my mind of this animal for so 

 many years was totally changed. 



214 



