266 
AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 
the branches; and we made our way back to camp through 
the darkness. 
The other day made amends. It was KermiFs turn to 
shoot an elephant, and mine to shoot a rhinoceros; and each 
of us was to act as the backing gun for the other. In the 
forenoon, we saw a bull rhino with a good horn walking 
over the open downs. A convenient hill enabled us to cut 
him off without difficulty, and from its summit we killed 
him at the base, fifty or sixty yards off. His front horn 
was nearly twenty-nine inches long; but though he was 
an old bull, his total length, from tip of nose to tip of tail, 
was only twelve feet, and he was, I should guess, not more 
than two-thirds the bulk of the big bull I killed in the Sotik. 
We rested for an hour or two at noon, under the shade 
of a very old tree with glossy leaves, and orchids growing 
on its gnarled, hoary limbs, while the unsaddled horses 
grazed, and the gun-bearers slept near by, the cool moun¬ 
tain air, although this was mid-day under the equator, 
making them prefer the sunlight to the shade. When we 
moved on it was through a sea of bush ten or fifteen feet 
high, dotted here and there with trees; and riddled in every 
direction by the trails of elephant, rhinoceros, and buffalo. 
Each of these animals frequents certain kinds of country to 
which the other two rarely or never penetrate; but here they 
all three found ground to their liking. Except along their 
winding trails, which were tunnels where the jungle was 
tall, it would have been practically impossible to traverse 
the thick and matted cover in which they had made their 
abode. 
We could not tell what moment wc might find our¬ 
selves face to face with some big beast at such close quar- 
