114 
IN AFRICA 
giving the picture machine time to get a good rec¬ 
ord. The situation was intense beyond description, 
and seconds seemed hours. When they started trot¬ 
ting toward us we thought the fatal moment had 
come, but instead of continuing the “charge,” they 
swung around and trotted swiftly off in an oppo¬ 
site direction. As far as we could see them they 
trotted swiftly and with the lightness of deer, some¬ 
times zigzagging their course, but always away 
from us. The charge had failed in spite of all our 
efforts to provoke it. The whistling and hand-clap¬ 
ping which we had hoped would give them our lo¬ 
cation without doubt had merely served to tell them 
the way not to go. 
The moving picture record of a “charging 
rhino” would have been a brilliant success but for 
one thing—the rhino refused to charge. 
During the following ten days we made many 
similar attempts to get a charge and always with 
nearly the same results. Once or twice we got 
within thirty yards before they finally turned tail 
after a number of feints that looked much like the 
beginning of a nasty charge. It was always in¬ 
tensely thrilling work because there was the likeli¬ 
hood that we might get a charge in spite of the fact 
that a dozen or so previous experiences had failed 
to precipitate one. 
In several cases the first rush of the rhino was 
toward us, but instead of continuing, he would soon 
swing about and make off, four times as badly 
scared as we were. It seemed as though these pre- 
