A HUNTER'S CAMP-FIRES 



the time how badly it was wounded, I approached the spot 

 with much caution. When I was only a few yards distant the 

 beast gave a piercing scream and lurched through the bushes 

 in my direction. 



I hurriedly brought the heavy rifle to my shoulder and fired. 

 Unfortunately, in my haste I fired both barrels simultaneously, 

 and the answering roar of those one hundred and seventy grains 

 of cordite remained in my ears for the remainder of the day. I 

 did not lose my grip on the rifle, but stumbled into a small tree, 

 momentarily stunned by the terrific recoil and deafening report 

 of the outraged rifle. Neither bullet struck the rhino, which 

 sank down among the bushes, squealing and moaning with rage 

 and pain. My head and shoulder had received such a jar from 

 the heavy recoil thaY I had no further ambition to fire the 

 large rifle that day, and was content with sending several steel 

 bullets from the smaller weapon into the head of the struggling 

 beast to end its sufferings. The horns of this cow rhinoceros 

 measured as follows: Front horn — length, eighteen inches; cir- 

 cumference, seventeen and one-quarter inches; rear horn — 

 length, fifteen and one-half inches; circumference, sixteen and 

 one-quarter inches. It was late in the afternoon when we 

 reached the tents with the head and such portions of the meat 

 as the blacks could carry. 



