IX 



TRAVELS IN EASTERN AFRICA 



397 



without difficulty; but in the early dawn, late after- 

 noon, or night, his sight is very keen. Upon seeing 

 George, this particular beast made for him. 



A Mannlicher contains in its magazine five car- 

 tridges. George discharged two without checking the 

 onrush of the rhinoceros, and the animal was almost 

 upon him, ere a shot in the spine, just over its rear 

 horn, brought it to the ground at his feet, lifeless. 

 This animal had just fallen, when George's attention 

 was attracted by the sounds of crashing bush on his 

 left, and through the leafless growth he could see an- 

 other rhinoceros, charging straight at him, about forty 

 feet away. He had not time to place more cartridges 

 in the magazine, but was fortunate enough to kill the 

 beast with a second and the last shot in his rifle. 

 From the place where he stood, when the animal 

 charged him, and from which he had not moved, he 

 was able, by stooping down, to place his hands upon 

 the heads of both the rhinoceroses; so close had they 

 come to him before death checked their rush. 



I know of no double-barrelled rifle which has such 

 a record to its credit. 



On another occasion, George had just killed two 

 antelopes, and reduced the number of cartridges in 

 his rifle to two, when his little party was charged by 

 a female rhinoceros, followed by its yearling offspring. 

 Two shots brought down the mother, and emptied 

 the rifle; when the parent's death seemed to fire the 

 baby rhinoceros with a desire for vengeance. It made 

 straight at George. A yearling rhinoceros is not much 

 larger than a Shetland pony, and of but little greater 

 weight. Its nose is armed with but one horn, and 



