128 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 
was impossible, the broken thorns could not solve 
the puzzle. We must chance it. Clarence was for the 
left. I advocated the right. Something made me 
choose so ; but oh, how devoutly afterwards I wished 
I had taken the man’s way and not mine own. It was 
not easy going now, but child’s play to what we 
endured at first. On and on, very, very slowly ; and 
at last the heavy country broke up somewhat and 
we could see the sandy ground in patches once more. 
A space and then — rhino spoor ! New, never-to-be- 
forgotten, I stooped down and examined it carefully. 
It was very distinct considering the dry nature of the 
ground. I ascribed this to his immense weight. I 
measured the imprint, and found it came out at nine 
and three-quarters long by eight and three-quarter 
inches broad. A rhino causes no havoc to the thorn 
bushes as he travels bar the injury of his passage. 
Unlike the elephant, he does not stop and eat all along 
the way. He waits until settled in some cherished 
feeding ground. 
By the time we had done another hour, the spoor 
still holding on, the country was comparatively clear. 
I was so fatigued and winded I lay down and hardly 
knew what to do with myself. I sent Clarence and 
the Baron on a bit to prospect, and had really nearly 
forgotten their existence in exhausted sleep when 
they appeared again all tingling with excitement and 
eagerness, and with many signs and mysterious facial 
contortions explained the rhino was not far off. A 
wave of the hand to a far-away fastness of thicket 
showed me its lair, and as we crept closer a pensive 
