118 
AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 
bush I fired into its flank both the bullets still remaining 
in my magazine. 
For a moment or two after it disappeared we heard 
the branches crash, and then there was silence. In such 
cover a wounded rhino requires cautious handling, and as 
quietly as possible we walked through the open forest 
along the edge of the dense thicket into which the animal 
had returned. The thicket was a tangle of thorn bushes, 
reeds, and small, low-branching trees; it was impossible 
to see ten feet through it, and a man could only penetrate 
it with the utmost slowness and difficulty, whereas the 
movements of the rhino were very little impeded. At the 
far end of the thicket we examined the grass to see if the 
rhino had passed out, and sure enough there was the spoor, 
with so much blood along both sides that it was evident 
the animal was badly hit. It led across this space and into 
another thicket of the same character as the first; and 
again we stole cautiously along the edge some ten yards 
out. I had taken the heavy Holland double-barrel, and 
with the safety catch pressed forward under my thumb, I 
trod gingerly through the grass, peering into the thicket 
and expectant of developments. In a minute there was 
a furious snorting and crashing directly opposite us in the 
thicket, and I brought up my rifle; but the rhino did not 
quite place us, and broke out of the cover in front, some 
thirty yards away; and I put both barrels into and behind 
the shoulder. The terrific striking force of the heavy gun 
told at once, and the rhino wheeled, and struggled back 
into the thicket, and we heard it fall. With the utmost 
caution, bending and creeping under the branches, we made 
our way in, and saw the beast lying with its head toward us. 
