68 THE RHINOCEROS 



of a passing rhinoceros, whose three-horn foot 

 divisions rendered the identification of the beast 

 a matter of ease. Lengo's eyes sparkled as 

 he whispered " Pwete " (rhinoceros), and pro- 

 ceeded in his inimitable manner to take up the 

 spoor. For some distance this led down stream, 

 and here the great beast had evidently browsed 

 his way leisurely along, morsels of leaves and 

 twigs found in the track being still wet with his 

 saliva. Noiseless as shadows we now struck 

 into the woodland, passing through clumps of 

 feathery bamboo, and skirting great earth-red 

 ant-hills. Here and there, where we traversed 

 hard, stony ground thinly covered with fallen 

 acacia leaves, the tracking became difficult, even 

 the great weight of the rhinoceros appearing to 

 make little or no impression. Still the hunters 

 held steadily on. An hour passed in this way, 

 when at length, approaching a thick patch of 

 thorny bushes, my dusky companion stopped 

 and, head on one side, listened intently. As he 

 did so his usually tranquil features leaped into 

 animation, and, pointing a lean but authori- 

 tative finger at the cover, he nodded shortly 

 to indicate that the beast had evidently fixed 

 upon it for the enjoyment of his siesta. Upon 

 this point we were not left long in doubt, for, with 

 a sudden crash, he charged out of the bushes 

 and passed us at a great rate, producing as he 

 did so that curious whiffing sound which has 

 been likened with some justice to the exhaust 

 of a small steam-engine. As he appeared at 

 first to be coming almost over us, Lengo evi- 



