THE RHINOCEROS. 149 



psrceived them, were struggling to escape from their 

 keeper, and to rush towards them. 



"Jonker, on his part, continued to advance, though 

 slowly, keeping his eyes fixed on the two animals, 

 and becoming suddenly motionless the instant they 

 turned their heads in his direction. His crawling, 

 with all its interruptions, lasted for an hour. At 

 length I saw him direct his movements towards a 

 great tuft of milk-wort, which was within about 

 200 yards of the rhinoceroses. 



"Arrived there, and sure of being well concealed, 

 he arose, and after turning his eyes on all sides, to 

 see that his comrades were at their posts, he pre- 

 pared to fire. 



"During the whole time of his crawling I had 

 followed him with my eyes, and in proportion as 

 he advanced, I felt my heart palpitate involuntarily. 

 But the palpitation redoubled when I saw him so 

 close to the animals, and on the point of firing at 

 one of them. What would I not have given at that 

 moment to have been in Jonker 's place, or at least 

 beside him ! I waited with the most vivid impatience 

 for the shot to be fired, and I could not conceive 

 what prevented his firing; but the Hottentot who 

 was by my side, and who with his naked eye could 

 distinguish him as perfectly as I with my lorgnette, 

 said that if Jonker did not fire, it was because he was 



