404 
AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 
The stomachs contained nothing but grass; it is a grazing, 
not a browsing animal. 
There were some white egrets—not, as is usually the 
case with both rhinos and elephants, the cow heron, but the 
slender, black-legged, yellow-toed egret—on the rhinos, 
and the bodies and heads of both the cow and calf looked 
as though they had been splashed with streaks of white¬ 
wash. One of the egrets returned after the shooting and 
perched on the dead body of the calf. 
The heat was intense, and our gun-bearers at once 
began skinning the animals, lest they should spoil; and 
that afternoon Cuninghame and Heller came out from 
camp with tents, food, and water, and Heller cared for 
the skins on the spot, taking thirty-six hours for the job. 
The second night he was visited by a party of lions, which 
were after the rhinoceros meat and came within fifteen 
feet of the tents. 
On the same night that Heller was visited by the lions 
we had to fight fire in the main camp. At noon we noticed 
two fires come toward us, and could soon hear their roar¬ 
ing. The tall, thick grass was like tinder; and if we let the 
fires reach camp we were certain to lose everything we had. 
So Loring, Mearns, Kermit, and I, who were in camp, got 
out the porters and cut a lane around our tents and goods; 
and then started a back fire, section after section, from the 
other side of this lane. We kept every one ready, with 
branches and wet gunny-sacks, and lit each section in turn, 
so that we could readily beat out the flames at any point 
where they threatened. The air was still, and soon after 
nightfall our back fire had burnt fifty or a hundred yards 
away from camp, and the danger was practically over. 
