98 
SOMALILAND 
The animal seemed to be walking very quickly, and I found 
it almost impossible to get along on the uneven ground, 
over little dried-up watercourses, interlaced with thorn 
branches. Suddenly coming over a small rise, I beheld, 
barely 20 yards away, with their backs towards me, not 
one, but two rhinoceros, one a large animal, the other a 
little smaller. I cocked the elephant rifle, and crouched 
along through the thorn-bushes until the big one, hearing 
us, suddenly turned sideways, held his head high in the 
air, cocked his ears, and snorted and sniffed loudly. Kneel- 
ing upon one knee, I aimed for the heart. Bang ! The 
bullet struck him in the shoulder. There was a great 
snorting and rumbling of stones as I fired my second barrel 
at his retreating form, when, through the smoke, I became 
aware that the smaller animal of the two was charging 
down upon us. However, by some miracle we all dodged 
behind bushes, and he thundered off to follow his friend, my 
men letting off their Sniders, presumably at him, although 
in reality most of the muzzles were pointed up into the air ! 
I loaded, and ran on the big one’s blood-spoor, which was 
only too evident on the rocky ground. We soon found him, 
standing behind a bush, breathing heavily, when I took a 
steady aim and fired. It then became evident that the 
wounded beast meant to charge us. He tossed his head, 
and looked defiantly at us. He was standing on very 
rocky and uneven ground, thinly scattered here and there 
with ‘wait-a-bit’ thorn-bushes, on a steep slope 25 yards 
above us. Suddenly, with a shake of his ugly head, he 
made a most determined charge straight for the middle of 
the four of us. 
Seeing him coming at a terrific pace, and so close upon 
us, I yelled, ‘ Fire 1’ and at the same instant fired the left- 
hand barrel of the big rifle I held in my hand. The next 
thing I remember was a huge dark head coming through 
the smoke. Whether I fell, jumped, or was thrown out of 
the way, I don’t know, but I saw the huge beast dash past 
me, and felt the wind from his nostrils in my face. My 
