OF THE OLD WORLD. 383 



I peered through the bush, but could see nothing ; 

 so, resting my rifle against the trunk of a tree, I 

 endeavoured to swarm up in order to have a better 

 look round. I had hardly raised myself a couple of 

 feet from the ground when, with a terrific roar, the 

 brute, which must have got wind of me, charged. 

 Luckily, the bush was so thick in front that he 

 coidd not get at me very easily, but had to make a 

 turn which gave me time to seize and cock my rifle; 

 and as his monstrous head, with flashing eyes and 

 open jaws, appeared about a couple of paces from me, 

 I gave him the contents of both barrels, which 

 almost stunned him, for he spun round and round, 

 and I had time to follow it up with my smooth-bore, 

 both bullets taking effect in the head ; but such was 

 the enormous tenacity of life that he managed to 

 tear out of the cover, rolling over and over as he 

 went. 



After reloading carefully, I followed up and found 

 him sprawling about on the gromid, moaning pite- 

 ously. As I got out of the bush he caught sight 

 of me, and made another headlong charge, reeling 

 from side to side as he came ; but I stopped him 

 with another bullet in the head, which made him 

 bite the dust. He rose again, and got up on his 

 hind legs as if to look round, and whilst in this 

 position he looked a fearful object, standing, as he 

 did, with his fore-paws raised about seven feet high 

 and the blood pouring in torrents out of his mouth. 

 I now had a fair shot at his chest, and inflicted a 



