Charged by a Rhinoceros 177 



sloping cruppers, and also by its lapping ; sometimes 

 an antelope, advancing without the least noise, like 

 a shadow, remaining motionless for several minutes 

 before resuming its walk. Then everything dis- 

 appears, and calm reigns once more. One of my 

 greatest privations on these night-watches is not to 

 be able to smoke. Ah ! the hours would be less long 

 if one could pass part of the time that way ; but we 

 smell quite enough already to animals, and also, it 

 appears, to Chinese, without the still stronger emana- 

 tions of tobacco smoke. 



Suddenly, about eleven o'clock, we have plain proof 

 that we give off an aroma very disagreeable to the 

 delicate nose of certain wild beasts. We hear at first 

 a sound of sweeping in the dry leaves of the river-bed 

 behind us. ... Fully awake, with all my presence of 

 mind about me, I listen with keen emotion, for there 

 indeed is the step of a large animal. ... It crosses, then 

 comes out on our left, and immediately a snort as 

 powerful as a jet of steam from a locomotive resounds 

 in the silence of the night. . . . We recognise the angry 

 bicornis for which we have come to look ; but, to tell 

 the truth, we expected it from another quarter. . . . We 

 ask ourselves, with a feeling of anxiety, which may 

 well be imagined, whether or not w r e have been 

 scented. ... In a few seconds we shall be quite certain 

 about that. . . . 



In fact, the approach of a furious gallop, an inter- 

 mittent noise as of a small trumpet, and of heavy 

 breathing, a fracas of broken bushes, tell us that not 

 a moment is to be lost, and we decamp by our back 



12 



