70 After Big Game in Central Africa 



difference that the roles are reversed we are the 

 game which it is looking for. . . . This cursed vege- 

 tation is so thick that there is nothing to do but to 

 wait ; it is impossible to fire. I see the top of the 

 grass wave and the shrubs lean over ; I can guess, 

 therefore, the position of the animal, but it remains 

 invisible. However, its anger increases, and it con- 

 tinues to snort, making a noise somewhat similar to 

 the grunting of a pig, only louder and deeper. It 

 draws near. . . . From which way is the wind blow- 

 ing ? It is impossible to say, for the earth is wet and 

 there is no dust. 1 . . . Time is pressing . . . Ah ! 

 it charges us a second time ! . . . This time I see my 

 animal a moment before it is upon us ; although going 

 at a gallop, it is not travelling over the ground so 

 quickly as it was. We have jumped aside and every- 

 one is hidden. . . . Stationed behind a tree I see it 

 advance splendidly, and I decide to stop its passage. 

 Doubtless smelling our fresh tracks, it slackens its pace 

 when in front of us, and I take advantage of this to 

 fire two shots, which make it swing round in a direction 

 opposite to ours. Before disappearing through the 

 smoke it receives still another express bullet in its 

 cruppers. 



But the battle is not over. At the same moment 

 warning of another charge is given quite near to us ; 

 it is rhinoceros No. 2, which we have forgotten. 

 Doubtless this is the female. He or she passes at a 

 gallop five or six yards away, but not in our direction, 



1 When there is dust, a handful is taken up and thrown in the air ; 

 by which means one can tell the direction in which the wind is blowing. 



