CHAPTER XI 
AN OASIS IN THE DESERT 
Since mine own doors refuse to entertain me 
Comedy of Errors 
Things without all remedy 
Should be without regard, what’s done is done 
- Macbeth 
What’s gone and what’s past help 
Should be past grief 
Winter's Tale 
We were now having a great time trying to cure the 
skin of the rhino. I was so afraid something would 
go wrong with it that I was for ever messing away. 
Clarence would have it that the wrong thing had been 
done from the first. He was rather pessimistic these 
days, mainly, I think, because he had a gathered hand 
and it pained very considerably. 
The skins generally were menaced by the deadly 
beetle grub, and we had to resort to all sorts of drastic 
measures. Saltpetre I found of great use here, and 
we used it freely. The heads of rhino are very difficult 
to dry, as can well be imagined, and our trophy looked 
a hopeless mess. It was difficult to believe it would 
ever rise in glory, Phoenix-like, from the ashes, to be a 
thing of joy to any one. Such great heads swarm with 
maggots in no time, unless carefully watched. The 
