398 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



that not three inches long. This is the forward one ; 

 the rear horn does not appear until the animal is 

 several years old. Owing to the size of this animal, 

 George treated its rush with more or less contempt, 

 and made no effort to get out of its way, until it had 

 nearly reached him. He then leaped to one side — 

 so did the little rhinoceros. Finding it pertinacious, 

 and determined to reach him, George took to his 

 heels. For ten minutes he sprinted up and down, 

 and dodged, as best he could, the determined charge 

 of the orphaned rhinoceros. During this diversion 

 George's followers indulged in the heartiest and most 

 imsympathetic laughter at his expense ; and although 

 he continued to shout lustily for a gun, none was 

 brought. At length, when he was panting for want 

 of breath, and momentarily expecting to be knocked 

 down by the little avenger, one of the men slipped a 

 rifle into his hand, with which he quickly brought 

 down his pursuer. 



Another of his adventures resulted in the death of 

 a fine male lion ; it was during the excursion upon 

 which he succeeded in killing the two rhinoceroses at 

 close quarters. The time was early morning, and he 

 was suddenly startled by seeing within a few feet of 

 him a lion and a lioness. They were standing and 

 facing him, but did not seem aggressively inclined. 

 He quickly brought the Mannlicher to his shoulder, 

 shot the male through the body, and it fell. The 

 lioness bounded off ; George after it. He hunted 

 some time, but could find no traces of it. Upon 

 returning to the spot where lay the lion he had shot, 

 he found all his men safely ensconced in trees, at the 



