180 THROUGH SOMALILAND AND ABYSSINIA CHAP. 
casting a deep black shadow upon the white rock. I stood 
erect, and raising my arms placed the butt of the four-bore 
to my shoulder. The action was seen, for the beast trotted 
forward a few steps, and then galloped across the slabs of rock 
for a path which ascended the bank on my side of the river, 
and led behind my shelter. I fired at his shoulder hurriedly, 
and, sad to say, heard no answering “tell,” showing that the 
bullet had not struck; and before I could look under the 
smoke I heard the rhinoceros, with a succession of snorts, 
gallop up the bank and trot behind my shelter ; then all sound 
ceased but the animal’s breathing, which we could hear distinctly, 
close to and above us, only separated from us by the stout 
interlaced branches of the back of our “box.” We stood with 
rifles at the “charge,” ready to fire and throw ourselves down 
into the river-bed should his ugly head and horns protrude into 
our bower. He did not keep us in suspense long, but after 
listening for more than a minute, trotted off, the sound of his 
footsteps getting fainter on the still night air, and eventually 
dying away. 
On the 29th I returned to camp at sunrise, and swallowing 
a cup of hot coffee, which my cook, having heard the shot and 
divined its purport, had prepared, I took up the tracks with two 
camelmen, letting Géli and Hassan sleep in camp. We followed 
