RHINOCEROS-HUNTING 



or disappear over the distant horizon. There are cases where 

 they show fight, and have been known to return after the first 

 charge and deliberately hunt down the sportsman or native 

 as a pointer would a stray bird. My friend unexpectedly ap- 

 proached too close to a mortally wounded rhino during the 

 trip and was obliged to stop a feeble but determined charge 

 with a heavy rifle. But, then, almost any wounded animal will 

 fight as a last resort when cornered. One of the most exciting 

 and damaging experiences which I had in Africa resulted from 

 laying my rifle down in the grass and attempting to finish with 

 my hunting-knife what I thought was an expiring half-grown 

 male Grant's gazelle. 



There was but one case during this trip where a rhinoceros 

 charged the caravan out of pure viciousness. During the whole 

 of one hot day, in the latter part of April, our caravan plodded 

 across a comparatively level, dusty plain to the west of Mount 

 Kenia. Among the herds of game scattered over the veldt 

 were a number of rhinoceros, and during the march we saw 

 fourteen of these huge beasts, the line of porters and donkeys 

 passing quite close to some of them without either alarming or 

 angering them. After passing through a patch of dense bush, 

 the donkey-train, which was bringing up the rear, was halted 

 a short distance out on a grassy plain in order to readjust the 

 packs. While helping the packers at this work, Fuguet hap- 

 pened to look over his shoulder in time to see a bull rhinoceros 

 emerge from the wall of bush through which the caravan had 

 recently passed. As this rhino continued to advance in a 

 threatening manner, my friend, who was unarmed, made a 

 hasty retreat to where his gun-bearer was hurrying toward him 

 with his heavy rifle. As he looked over his shoulder he saw 

 that the rhino was following him at a trot, and porters and 

 donkeys were scattering in ever\' direction. When he grasped 

 the rifle and whirled about, the enraged beast was thundering 

 down upon him at a full gallop, and the first barrel of the rifle, 



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