222 LIFE WITH THE HAMRAN ARABS. 



der, so as he sprang on his legs he received a right-and-left 

 directly behind the right shoulder. To my surprise 

 these shots produced no effect beyond making him bolt 

 off with his companion, till then quite hidden, and at an 

 equally good pace. The country being thinly wooded 

 we ran after them, and as they fortunately turned 

 round a hill we were able to make a short cut, and so 

 gain upon them, until giving me a broadside at over 

 one hundred yards I took a chance shot at the 

 wounded one with the ' Henry,' and to my delight he 

 stopped short, and after swaying to and fro he fell to 

 the ground. The last shot struck the head below the 

 eye, and seemingly, low to have produced so fatal an 

 effect. The other wounds I could not examine, as he 

 fell on his right side. We. always give special instruc- 

 tions to the Arabs sent to our dead game to bring back 

 any bullets found in the body, and to observe their 

 position ; but they are generally so taken up with their 

 own interests that ours stand a poor chance of being 

 remembered. 



Essafi explained in the evening that the small 

 bird we saw and heard indicated distinctly to him that 

 we were close to rhinoceros, for it is their frequent 

 companion, and by its note gives them warning of 

 approaching danger. In this respect it had to-day the 

 misfortune which occasionally falls to the lot of other 

 good-natured individuals, who, in trying to do a 



