354 
THE ELEPHANT. 
guns and other things to our encampment. In a 
few w r ords I related to him what had befallen me. 
He listened with seeming incredulity; but the sight 
of my gashed thigh soon convinced him that I was 
not in joke. 
I afterwards directed him to take one of the 
guns and proceed in search of the wounded rhi¬ 
noceros, cautioning him to be careful in approach¬ 
ing the beast, which I had reason to believe was not 
yet dead. He had only been absent a few minutes, 
when I heard a cry of distress. Striking my hand 
against my forehead, I exclaimed, “ Good God ! the 
brute has attacked the lad also. 55 
Seizing hold of my rifle, I scrambled through 
the bushes as fast as my crippled condition would 
permit; and, when I had proceeded two or three 
hundred yards, a scene suddenly presented itself 
that I shall vividly remember to the last days of 
my existence. Amongst some bushes, and within 
a couple of yards of each other, stood the rhinoceros 
and the young savage; the former supporting her¬ 
self on three legs, covered with blood and froth, 
and snorting in the most furious manner; the latter 
petrified with fear—spell-bound, as it were—and 
riveted to the spot. Creeping, therefore, to the 
side of the rhinoceros opposite to that on which 
the boy was standing, so as to draw her attention 
from him, I levelled and fired, on which the beast 
charged wildly to and fro, without any distinct 
object, and whilst she was thus occupied, I poured 
into her body shot after shot, but thought she 
would never fall. 
