140 



ON SAFARI 



judge in the fickle moonlight, the great beast still 

 continued his forward onrush, but there was another 

 movement — downward : and in five more yards he had 

 gradually subsided, ploughing a trench with his snout 

 ere he rolled over flat on his broadside not thrice his 

 own length from where I sat. Then the sense of relief 

 and of danger averted struck home together : for in that 



FACED ROUND IN THE MOONLIGHT. 



open ground, short of dropping the enemy dead, there 

 could have been but small chance of escape. 



To make sure, w^e put in two more bullets in the 

 heart and presently the stertorous breathing had ceased. 

 Then cautiously drawing in, we discovered that our 

 prize was not the harmless hippo after all, but a 

 gigantic bull-rhinoceros ! This fact our men had 

 learned earlier — that snort had enlightened them : it 

 explained Mabruki's sudden flight, though Ali Yama, 

 my brother's Somali hunter, had stood firm. This rhino 

 carried mao;nificent horns, the front one over 28 ins. in 

 length, second 13 ins., while further up was a third 



