A FINE BULL RHINOCEROS KILLED. 253 



sight of him standing eighty paces to my left ; but on turning 

 towards him he wheeled round and made off also, presenting 

 his broad stern only. Ordinarily the distance was too great 

 for an effective shot, but there being no chance of a better, 

 I let drive a two-and-a-half ounce steel-tipped conical at him 

 in the hope of breaking a leg bone ; the shot told unmis- 

 takably. On being struck the beast ran along the covert 

 side for a hundred yards, and then pulling up began swaying 

 about from side to side, and before I got up to him rolled 

 over on his left side stone dead. This, as a great piece of 

 luck, delighted us all, as an auspicious commencement of the 

 day's sport. As the huge animal lay on its side, his upper 

 fore -leg standing out horizontally was as high as my face, and 

 he proved to be a particularly fine bull of the largest size 

 in the prime of life. Being opened the bullet was found em- 

 bedded in his lungs, after having entered in a soft place near 

 the root of the tail, traversed the body, and inflicted frightful 

 internal injuries. Blood had spouted from his mouth in jets, 

 and his lungs were found to be completely smashed. 



After this we continued our course southwards for two 

 or three miles, working through a splendid savannah of high 

 grass, with here and there a marsh with clear water in the 

 middle, on which reposed flocks of ducks and teal, while 

 marsh-deer and buffalo, springing up out of the grass, made 

 off unmolested. Towards noon, as we were beating carefully 

 line in line, two more rhinos were roused, and one, a large 

 cow, was struck several times, but got away. I was still in 

 my appointed position, well on the left flank with two or three 

 beating elephants beyond me, and in the chase of the wounded 

 animal, when, within fifty paces in a mud-hole, I came upon a 

 very tall emaciated-looking old bull, at which I obtained two 

 good shots as he sprang up to bolt, which so severely damaged 

 him, that after a run of a few hundred yards he pulled up into 

 a walk, and allowing me to gain upon him, was slain without 

 trouble with one more ball in the neck. This was an aged 

 beast, as high as the first, but a mere bag of bones and hide, 

 with a short stump of a horn worn down to four or five 



