1 1 4 AFRICAN NATURE NOTES CHAP. 



muzzle almost touches the ground. At last the 

 great beast seemed to make up its mind that no 

 danger threatened it, for after having stood quite 

 still for some little time about fifty yards away from 

 me, it came on without any further hesitation and 

 commenced to drink at the pool beneath the ledge 

 on which I was lying. Its head was then hidden 

 from me, but if I had held my old gun at arm's 

 length I could have touched it on the shoulder. 

 Raising myself on my elbows, I now lost no time 

 in firing into the unsuspecting animal, the muzzle 

 of my gun almost touching it at the junction of the 

 neck and the chest as I pulled the trigger. 



The loud report of my heavily charged elephant 

 gun was answered by the puffing snorts of the 

 rhinoceros, which, although mortally wounded, had 

 strength enough to swing round and run about fifty 

 yards across the open ground before falling dead. 



As it was still quite early, and the night was so 

 gloriously fine, I thought I would lie and watch for 

 an hour or two longer to see if anything else came 

 to drink at the water. 



I don't think the rhinoceros had been dead five 

 minutes when a hyaena came across the pan and 

 went straight up to the carcase. This first arrival 

 was soon followed by others, and in less than half 

 an hour there were at least a dozen of these ravenous 

 creatures assembled for the prospective feast. All 

 the time I was watching them they neither howled 

 nor laughed nor fought amongst themselves, but 

 kept continually walking round the dead rhinoceros, 

 or watching whilst one or other of their number 

 attempted to tear the carcase open. This they 

 always attempted to do at the same place in the 

 flank just where the thigh joins the belly. The 

 soft, thick, spongy skin, however, resisted all their 

 efforts as long as I left them undisturbed, though 

 I could hear their teeth grating over its rough 



