WITH FLASH-LIGHT AND RIFLE 



men, " Bwana, tembo!" (master, an elephant). Quick- 

 ly jumping up, I seized one of my rifles. My men, too, 

 had become aroused. Some of them, horror-stricken, 

 pointed to a black form, about one hundred feet from 

 my tent. There it stood, motionless, as if cut out of 

 stone. It was a large rhinoceros standing among the 

 small tents of my men, and wondering, no doubt, what 

 kind of intruders had invaded its feeding-ground. My 

 men, well- trained and obedient, did not fire, but lined 

 up behind me. I thought it best to get the start of the 

 still motionless animal, and fired. The rhinoceros an- 

 swered l:)y a grunt, wheeled about, and vanished into 

 the thicket. 



I had an adventure with two rhinoceroses at night 

 when I first came to Africa, and was not yet familiar 

 with their ways. The night was not dark, but moonlit, 

 and we were not encamped on the path of the animals. 

 It was a cold night, too, and I had covered myself with 

 several woollen blankets. I was awakened by the 

 guards who reported two rhinoceroses to be close by 

 camp. Without dressing, I rushed in my night-gown to 

 the edge of the camp. The animals had left in the 

 mean time. I followed them in my primitive costume 

 about six hundred feet. ■ The beasts were at a safe dis- 

 tance, and I gave up the fruitless pursuit. 



The immense African steppe harbors even to - day 

 thousands upon thousands of rhinoceroses; but, no 

 doubt, their days are numbered, like those of the el^- 



138 



