THE RHINOCEROS 



the scanty grass tufts in which we were trying to get 

 cover. It was very hard work indeed, but after a 

 half hour of it we gained a thin bush not over thirty 

 yards from a half dozen dark and indeterminate 

 bodies dozing in the very centre of a brush patch. 

 Cautiously I wiped the sweat from my eyes and 

 raised my glasses. It was slow work and patient 

 work, picking out and examining each individual 

 beast from the mass. Finally the job w^as done. I 

 let fall my glasses. 



"Monumookee y'otey — all cows," I whispered 

 to Memba Sasa. 



We backed out of there inch by inch, with the 

 intention of circling a short distance to the leeward, 

 and then trying the herd again lower down. But 

 some awkward slight movement, probably on my 

 part, caught the eye of one of those blessed cows. 

 She threw up her head; instantly the whole thicket 

 seemed alive with beasts. We could hear them crash- 

 ing and stamping, breaking the brush, rushing head- 

 long and stopping again; we could even catch 

 momentary glimpses of dark bodies. After a few- 

 minutes we saw the mass of the herd emerge from 

 the thicket five hundred yards away and flow up 

 over the hill. There were probably a hundred and 

 fifty of them, and, looking through my glasses, I saw 

 among them two fine old bulls. They were of course 



307 



