chap. ii. RHINOCEROS. 79 



whether it had been made by the one that we were after 

 or by another. I was, however, able to set that question 

 at rest at once, as one of the toes of the wounded beast 

 was unusually small, and this was undoubtedly the same 

 animal. 



It had come from below, and here, turning on its track, 

 had gone back again — a manoeuvre that proved to any one 

 who had before seen instances of this animal's cunning 

 that it was thinking of lying down, and was taking this 

 precaution in case any one should follow it. The other 

 hunter was soon brought to our side by means of a 

 whistle that resembled the accentuation of the words, 

 " Mena, nangu'mzila-bo," " Here, here 's the spoor," and 

 leaving him to do the tracking, we searched the ground 

 on either side, but a few yards in front, until the low chirp 

 of a rhinoceros-bird struck our ears, upon which we left 

 the spoor, and, joining, stole up towards the sound. 

 Guided by the continued chirping, we kept on until I 

 made out the loom of the animal lying in a bare spot in 

 the shade of a thick thorn-tree. There was another 

 thorn-tree between us and it, and, motioning to the 

 Kaffirs to follow me in single file, I glided towards it, 

 sheltering myself behind its trunk, and hardly daring to 

 breathe for fear of disturbing the watchful buds. At last 

 we all three knelt down behind it, not ten yards from the 

 unsuspicious brute, and, in the lowest of whispers, I told 

 the one who had a double-barrel to fire at it as it lay 

 simultaneously with myself, so that we should all have a 

 shot left when it rose. It was lying on its knees, nearly 

 broadside to us, its long protruding snout turned in the 

 direction of its upward spoor, and its bare black hide 



