CHARGED BY A RHINOCEROS 
99 
second shikari and another man had thrown themselves 
behind a bush to the left. For a second after I was con- 
scious of nothing but a huge cloud of dust and smoke, and a 
loud rumbling of stones. The next second I saw two men 
crouching behind bushes, but I was horrified to behold my 
head-shikari racing downhill, closely followed by the 
infuriated rhinoceros. I yelled out to the man to dodge. 
But straight on down the hill he kept, until he reached 
a bush, round which he appeared to stumble to the right, 
the rhinoceros gaining upon him at every stride. As the 
man stumbled, the rhinoceros, which, marvellous to relate, 
had turned the sharp corner with as much dexterity as the 
man, caught the poor fellow with his horn, behind, and 
tossed him at least 5 feet up into the air, my Express, which 
the man v/as carrying in his hand, going up perhaps double 
that height. My shikari, being a very heavy man, w'as 
turned literally head over heels in the air, and landed on 
the side of his head and shoulder, through a very thick 
thorn-bush, on the rough, stony ground, before the very 
nose of the rhinoceros, which had stood calmly waiting for 
him to fall. When the man fell he lay perfectly still on his 
side, and I quite gave him up for dead. The rhinoceros now 
commenced to give the man’s head and side a series of 
terrific rams with his horn. 
Although all this has taken a long time to tell, the events 
related all happened in a few seconds. Meanwhile all the 
men remained crouched behind trees, calling upon Allah to 
save the wretched shikari. Picking up my rifle as soon as 
I could, I rushed towards the huge brute as he was still 
butting at the man, yelling with all my might. I dared noL 
fire at the animal, as his head touched the man, and as he 
stood below me I could see nothing else to fire at when he 
faced me, so, picking up some large stones, I threw them 
high, so as to land, if possible, on the animal’s back, and 
not touch the man. At this he stopped mauling the man, 
and, raising his huge ugly head, stared at me, as though 
in doubt whether to charge ihe or not. I loaded quickly 
7—2 
