172 ON SAFARI 



concluclecl, on first seeing their wild rush direct upon us, 

 that they were deliberately charging to the shot — to the 

 spot w^hence the sound had come — presumably to exact 

 retribution. But their never stopping, their holding 

 that wild career afar, negatived any such solution. 

 'Twas better so ; but it leaves their precise motive, their 

 line of reasoning, a mystery. 



Determined to risk no more "regrettable incidents" 

 that day, we set out direct for camp ; but finding that 

 the spoor of the angry rhino led in the same direction, 

 as a mere matter of duty we followed on it, though I 

 had lost all faith in my star. 



Salim presently stopped, pointing ahead, and I saw 

 among sere grass, 150 yards away, something that 

 appeared yellow. Both my men declared this to be the 

 wounded rhino, lying down. I felt convinced they 

 were mistaken, though rhinos certainly do take extra- 

 ordinary colours, dependent on the nature of the mud 

 in their latest w^allow. We had crept in to 100 yards 

 when something like a big paw slowly stretched 

 heavenwards, then disappeared. " Lion ? " I said, but 

 both men persisted in their former verdict. Now it was 

 perfectly open prairie all round, devoid of shelter or 

 refuge of any kind, and in such ground it would be 

 unwise to "walk-up" a wounded rhino — especially 

 such an evil-tempered beast as that we had just been 

 watching, though one need not hesitate to take-on a 

 lion so. ^Yhile firmly of opinion that the yellow object 

 ahead ivas a lion asleep, I, this luckless day, allowed 

 myself to be overruled by the two hunters, who (with 

 their keener, savage eyesight) were ecjually positive that 

 it was the rhino — indeed, Salim even explained how the 

 beast was lying. 



It was Kismet once more. On firing (aiming, as for 

 a rhino, rather low), up sprang a lioness, and within 

 three bounds disappeared in a dip, while all around the 

 veld w\Ts full of bouncing lion-cubs as big as setters — 

 six or seven of them, the men declared. The whole 

 family had been lying asleep in the grass, and, had 



