"a horse! a horse!" 707 



two stone heavier than any of the party. Only seven remained ; 

 and we swept down the incline, Taher Sherrif still leading and 

 Abou Do the last ! His horse was done but not the rider, for 

 springing to the ground while at full speed, sword in hand, he 

 forsook his tired horse and preferred his own legs ; he ran like 

 an antelope for the first hundred yards. I thought he would 

 really pass us and win the honor of the first blow. It was of 

 no use, the pace was too severe, and although running wonder- 

 fully he was obliged to give way to the horses. Only three now 

 followed the rhinoceroses — Taher Sherrif, his brother Roder and 

 myself. I had been obliged to give the second place to Roder, 

 as he was a mere monkey in weight, but I was a close third. 

 The excitement was intense. We neared the jungle and the rhi- 

 noceroses began to show signs of flagging as the dust puffed up 

 before their nostrils, and with noses close to the ground they 

 snorted as they still galloped on. Oh, for a fresh horse ! 'A 

 horse ! a horse ! my kingdom for a horse ! ' We were within two 

 hundred yards of the jungle, but the horses were all done. Tetel 

 reeled as I urged him forward; Roder pushed ahead. We were 

 close to the dense thorns and the rhinoceroses broke into a trot; 

 they were done ! One moment more and the sword flashed in 

 the sunshine as the rearmost rhinoceros disappeared in the thick 

 screen of thorns with a gash about a foot long upon his hind- 

 quarters. Taher Sherrif shook his bloody sword in triumph 

 above his head, but the rhinoceros was gone. We were fairly 

 beaten, regularly outpaced ; but I believe another two hundred 

 yards would have given us the victory. ' Bravo! Taher!' I 

 shouted. He had ridden splendidly, and his blow had been 

 marvellously delivered at an extremely long reach, as he was 

 nearly out of his saddle when he sprang forward to enable 

 the blade to attain a cut at the last moment." 



Mr. Stanley was not encouraged to put very much confidence 

 in the wonderful stories of tropical hunters by his own ex- 

 perience. He was more fortunate in his assaults on the beautiful 

 zebras and hartbeests and giraffes than on lions, elephants, and 

 the rhinoceros. He seemed formed for managing men rather 

 than killing beasts ; he was more of a general than a butcher, 

 and lost nothing on that account in the estimation of Dr. Living- 

 stone. There is a sort of exhilaration felt in reading the narratives 



