WITH FLASH-LIGHT AND RIFLE 



branches impede our progress considerably. Once in 

 a while we catch, through some opening, glimpses of 

 the sun-bathed steppe far below. Aside from bush- 

 bucks and small duikers, we hardly come upon any 

 antelopes. Our path is crossed again and again by 

 rhinoceroses, which, fortunately, do not feel in an ag- 

 gressive mood, but run away. We spend a well-earned 

 half-hour of rest sitting on a projecting rock, from which 

 we have a splendid view of the steppe below. Ahead 

 of us rises a mountain -top, our next resting-place if we 

 get there alive. 



Again we plunge into the thick underwood, which 

 after a while becomes so tangled up with vines from 

 below and parasite tree - moss from above that we 

 have, at times, to crawl through narrow openings in 

 this jungle. Pushing my way slowly through the en- 

 tanglement, I suddenly hear the familiar snort of a 

 rhinoceros close at hand. Before I have even time to 

 realize the danger which threatens the beast is upon 

 me. Instinctivelv I pull the trigger and the animal 

 drops dead, shot in the ear. The very same moment 

 its two companions rush past me. Suddenly they stop, 

 but only a moment, and then they stumble downhill, 

 breaking noisily through the underwood. Had they 

 taken it into their heads to charge me, I could not have 

 escaped death. 



My natives had disappeared as if the earth had swal- 

 lowed them. Now they creep up to me, their faces 



360 



