104 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



As I crept toward them I was struck by their likeness to 

 great, clean, handsome cattle. They were grazing or rest- 

 ing, switching their long tails at the flies that hung in 

 attendance upon them and lit on their flanks, just as if they 

 were Jerseys in a field at home. My bullet fell short, their 

 size causing me to underestimate the distance, and away 

 they went at a run, one or two of the cows in the first hurry 

 and confusion skipping clean over the backs of others that 

 got in their way a most unexpected example of agility in 

 such large and ponderous animals. After a few hundred 

 yards they settled down to the slashing trot which is their 

 natural gait, and disappeared over the brow of a hill. 



.The morning was a blank, but early in the afternoon 

 we saw the eland herd again. They were around a tree in 

 an open space, and we could not get near them. But in- 

 stead of going straight away they struck off to the right and 

 described almost a semicircle, and though they were over 

 four hundred yards distant, they were such big creatures and 

 their gait was so steady that I felt warranted in shooting. 

 On the dry plain I could mark where my bullets fell, and 

 though I could not get a good chance at the bull I finally 

 downed a fine cow; and by pacing I found it to be a little 

 over a quarter of a mile from where I stood when shooting. 



It was about nine miles from camp, and I dared not 

 leave the eland alone, so I stationed one of the gun-bearers 

 by the great carcass and sent a messenger in to Heller, on 

 whom we depended for preserving the skins of the big 

 game. Hardly had this been done when a Wakamba man 

 came running up to tell us that there was a rhinoceros on 

 the hill-side three-quarters of a mile away, and that he had 

 left a companion to watch it while he carried us the news. 

 Slatter and I immediately rode in the direction given, fol- 

 lowing our wild-looking guide; the other gun-bearer trotting 

 after us. In five minutes we had reached the opposite hill- 

 crest, where the watcher stood, and he at once pointed out 

 the rhino. The huge beast was standing in entirely open 

 country, although there were a few scattered trees of no 



