'March, 1922 
was the only steinbuck we bagged on 
the trip. 
Having disturbed the neighborhood 
by my shot, it seemed advisable to have 
lunch where we were. We made our- 
selves comfortable in the shade of some 
rocks, while the bearers squatted about 
us but ever with roaming eyes on the 
bush and plain below us. Half way 
through, an impalla disturbed the pro- 
ceedings by appearing below us, about 
120 yards away. It was not my shot 
but I happened to be nearest to the 
beast and any movement on the part 
iof either of my companions to take the 
.shot would have been in plain view, so 
the one who was next to me kindly 
pushed his 9 m/m Mauser over to me 
(my own rifle was some feet away) and 
[ missed that impalla very handsomely. 
It was a downhill shot, always a difficult 
one to me, and I discovered afterward 
that the sight on the rifle had been left 
: with the 300 yard leaf up ! 
Apropos of this, while not blaming my 
; friend in the least for having made the 
same mistake as I have made many 
; times, I prefer nowadays never to alter 
my sights from the "point-blank” ad- 
justment, merely aiming higher at 
^ longer ranges. It is not a specially dif- 
ficult matter with a modern rifle to get 
to know the trajectory of one's weapon 
: up to 300 yards and allow accordingly. 
Ordinarily, most shots are very well 
within that distance and one should not 
attempt longer ranges, though I must ad- 
mit to occasionally being tempted when 
I short of meat to pot some of the wary 
; plains antelopes at 350 to 400 yards. I 
am not a good enough shot, however, to 
enjoy this long-range work and I al- 
ways felt quite happy about it if the re- 
sult was a clean miss, rather than a 
; wounded beast to be chased and perhaps 
. lost in the end. 
W HEN the excitement produced by 
the impalla had died down we pro- 
ceeded with lunch and a lazy cigarette 
afterward. One of my companions was 
sitting with his back against a rock scan- 
ning the plain through the glasses and 
presently discovered a rhino just below 
the crest of a slight rise, about two 
miles away. We all took a look then 
and discovered another one very near 
the first. Fully determined that those 
two rhino, now only black dots in the 
distance, should be ours before very 
long, we left the men where they were 
v ith strict injunctions to “stay put’’ and 
set out with only our gunbearers and 
one Wanderobo tracker, to make a 
detour through bush and low-lying 
ground, calculated to bring us down 
wind and within easy range of our 
quarry. One of my friends, somehow 
or other, lost touch with us in the bush 
and only two of us arrived at the spot 
where we had marked the rhino. No 
rhino was to be seen, however, although 
it was now open grass country. Con- 
vinced, nevertheless, that the beasts were 
not far off, we did some cautious coun- 
ter-marching and at last I spotted a 
broad brown back, tail-on to me, almost 
hidden in the grass ninety yards away. 
• Incidentally this was the first and only 
FOREST AND STREAM 
time, given equal opportunities, that 1 
was ever able to discover the presence 
of game quicker than the natives. 
The two animals had evidently lain 
down for a siesta, and though we could 
not spot the other one, w'e judged that 
it could not be very far away. I crept 
up quietly till I was within 50 or 60 
yards of the beast I had spotted, and 
broadside on to him. Here I came to a 
halt, kneeling behind a small isolated 
bush, with the gunbearer and tracker 
squatting behind me. All I could see 
of the beast was the curve of his back, 
neither head, neck nor other vital spot 
being A'isible, and I was distinctly 
puzzled as to what to do next. The 
rhino himself however, cut the Gordian 
knot by suddenly rising to his feet ; I 
take it that he had either winded us or 
heard some slight noise. He looked 
Sulimani and the lioness 
fixedly in my direction and I looked 
back, fascinated by the appearance of 
this pre-historic-looking creature. 
Rhinos are very short-sighted and I 
was confident that he could not make 
me out, but I did not remain at gaze 
very long, and slowly raised the heavy 
rifle till the white enamel bead came 
to rest on his neck. The next instant 
I had pulled the trigger and had the 
satisfaction of seeing my first rhino 
drop in his tracks. Standing up for a 
better view, the first thing I saw was 
the other rhino, careering round in 
circles. My friend now came up level 
with me and explained that the second 
rhino had risen from the grass prac- 
tically at the same moment as mine and 
that he had fired and hit. We must 
have shot simultaneously, as neither of 
us heard the other’s shot. Judging from 
the way my beast collapsed we thought 
he was in less need of immediate at- 
tention than the other, whose maelstrom- 
like progress had now taken it about 150 
103 
yards away. We each took another shot 
at the beast, without a\'ail, and then de- 
cided to seek closer cpiarters. 1 realized, 
too, that my .600 was not the weapon 
for snap shots at running animals, how- 
ever large, at 150 yards, and changed 
for the .400. I landed the next time with 
a head shot, my companion also scoring 
another hit, and rhino No. 2 came 
crashing down on its nose. Although 
we did not make a careful examination 
of the hits, I think that my friend’s first 
shot must have been the fatal one, judg- 
ing by the way blood was pouring out 
of the animal’s mouth. He had scored 
just too far back for the heart shot and 
must have penetrated the lungs. 
Now, a rhino is liberally endowed by 
nature with lung space, so much so that 
once it is penetrated he will choke to 
death in a remarkably short space of 
time. There was nothing suggestive of 
a charge in the antics of the beast; 
which was probably only fighting for the 
air denied it by the rush of blood from 
its lungs, and as we did not happen to 
be in its way, no trouble resulted. The 
whole episode took only a few minutes 
from the time we saw the first beast’s 
back in the grass, and the satisfactory 
result was two rhino on \-ery easy terms. 
The hunter who had liecn lost now- 
joined us, distinctly disappointed at not 
having been in at the death, but was as 
pleased as we were at our success. We 
went back to look at the first rhino, 
whose existence had been temporarily 
forgotten, and approached with a cer- 
tain amount of respect, as I never quite 
trust the neck shot. I f the spinal col- 
umn is broken, death is of course in- 
stantaneous, but if the bullet passes 
slightly to one side c.)f it without frac- 
ture resulting', the effect produced is 
often momentary paralysis, disconcert- 
ingly like death. Howc\er, there was 
no doubt in this case ; he was still there, 
lying' as he had fallen, with his head be- 
tween his fore-legs. 
Leaving the men to take off the horns 
and feet of the rhinos, we started back 
for camp, rounding off the day’s bag 
v-ith a dik-dik on the way. W'e also saw- 
two wild dogs {Lycaon pictiis) who were, 
unfortunately, too quick for the snap- 
shot thrown after them. The total re- 
sult for the day was, as aforesaid, one 
steinbuck, two rhino and a dik-dik. In 
addition, we had seen eland, inqialla, 
wild dog', and, on the plains, herds of 
zebra. Grant and Thomson’s gazelles. 
As far as m 3 - limited e.xperience of only 
one district of East Africa goes, this 
was a somewhat exceptional day, hut 
serves to give an idea of the prodigality 
with which nature has stocked this hunt- 
er’s paradise. 
\jO description of East .\frica would 
I ^ be complete without a reference to 
the lion. He ma}- not, indeed, he (he 
“king of beasts’’ — he sometimes com- 
ports himself in an 3 -thing but a regal 
manner — but he is none the less always 
an interesting and imposing personage, 
splendidly equipped by nature to do battle 
and obviously endowed with no small 
measure of intelligence. By habit mainly 
(Coiitinued on page 135) 
