AN UNPLEASANT POSITION. 247 



CHAPTER XIV. 



March 23. I went out early with Essafi, and came 

 unexpectedly upon a rhinoceros in some jungle, and as 

 he looked at me with his head up I fired at the front of 

 his chest with the ' Henry,' but without producing any 

 apparent effect. We then tracked him for some 

 distance by observing the freshly-trodden grass, and 

 walked up to within five yards of him before he was 

 seen. He was again facing us with head up, and I 

 fired as before, and to my unpleasant surprise the 

 cartridge missed fire. Keeping my eye upon him I 

 reloaded, and in a most liberal manner he allowed me 

 to take another shot at him without moving, and this 

 time with an immediately fatal result. The bullets 

 had entered the chest side by side, the last being a little 

 to the left and probably striking the heart. In the 

 afternoon there was a great gathering in our camp, for 

 Coke and Cumming arrived from the Royan, being 

 already disgusted with it, and Ranfurly and Ark- 

 wright paid a ' morning call.' It was very amusing to 

 compare our respective experiences, and Vivian and 



