SECOND EXPEDITION TO SOUTH AFRICA 117 
that I did not think anything was amiss until I saw that if 
_ the nearer of those now in front of me, an old cow, should 
forge her own length once more ahead, her foot would be on 
me. She was so near that I might possibly have dropped her 
with a ball up the nostril, and, had she been alone, I should 
probably have tried it ; but the rhinoceros, when he charges, 
nearly always makes straight for the smoke of the gun, even 
though the hunter is concealed, and I knew that if No. 1 fell, 
_ No. 2, who was within four or five yards of her, would, in all 
_ probability, be over me before the smoke cleared. In the 
_ hope that my sudden appearance from the ground under her 
feet would startle her and give me a chance of escape, I sprang 
up ; the old lady was taken aback for a moment and threw 
_ up her head with a snort. I dashed alongside of her to get 
_ in her rear ; my hand was on her as I passed ; but the shock 
_ to her nerves was not strong enough, for before I had made 
ten yards she was round, and in full chase. 
I should have done better to fire into her as I went by, 
_ but it had not occurred to me, and it was now too late; in 
% _ ty anxiety to escape, to put it as mildly as may be, I had 
_ neglected my best chance, and paid the penalty. I was a fast 
_ runner ; the ground was in my favour, but in thirty yards from 
_ the start she was at my heels. A quick turn to the left saved 
me for the moment, and, perhaps, by giving my pursuer my 
_ flank instead of my back, my life too. The race was over in 
the next ; as the horned snout came lapping round my thigh 
I rested the gun on the long head and, still running, fired 
both barrels; but with the smoke I was sailing through the 
air and remember nothing more, for I fell apa my head and 
was stunned. 
: The day was fast drawing to a close when, though in that 
addled state which prevents a man from deciding whether to- 
_ day is yesterday or to-morrow, my brain seemed stirring again 
' ina thick fog. By degrees I became aware that I was on my 
a horse, that a native was leading it, and another carrying my 
= gun beside my stirrup. It all appeared strange, but with the 
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