TWO RHINOS 
93 
The effect was remarkable. This hitherto apathetic 
beast, which had so far treated cordite with sluggish 
indifference, suddenly awoke to life and amazing 
activity. AVith a succession of hissing snorts—resound¬ 
ing like jets of steam driving through a safety-valve—he 
reared on end, spun round again and again, and finally, 
still shrieking and rearing, bolted back to the covert he 
had just quitted. He left a track like a runaway 
wagon, which we followed ; but it was now dusk and 
raining in torrents, with lightning and thunder crackling 
straight overhead. Nothing more could be done that 
night. It was a rough job to regain camp. 
At break of day I took up the spoor with fifteen 
boys, following it for hours through thin scrub and 
thick. The latter seemed to me highly dangerous 
work, our radius of vision being limited to a few yards. 
On open ground the rain had obliterated all tracks, and 
I divided my force into three parties, two circling on 
the flanks, to cut the spoor ahead when we lost it 
ourselves; but noon arrived without our overhauling 
the stricken rhino. The midday heat was more than I 
could withstand, so I returned to camp, directing the 
trackers to hold the spoor till night. After sundown 
they too returned empty-handed. Not a sign of the 
beast had been seen, though we had followed on for 
eight or ten miles. Either I or the *303 had failed. 
After this double disappointment, first with elephant 
and now with rhino, I decided never again to take on 
these huge pachyderms with a small bore. 
It was at this spot—that is, on the first plateau of 
Laikipia—that, a year before, a terrible accident had 
befallen an English sportsman, Mr. B. Eastwood of 
Nairobi, whom I afterwards had the pleasure of meeting, 
and who kindly allows me to reproduce his description 
of the event as follows— 
“ On Sunday, the 19th of October, I was under way 
before six, and made straight for the big hill (Njoro- 
Ilimalo), nine or ten miles away, where I had seen the 
koodoo tracks. I had gone some distance up the valley, 
