140 
ON SAFARI 
judge in the fickle moonlight, the great beast still 
continued his forward onrush, but there was another 
movement—downward : and in five more yards he had 
gradually subsided, ploughing a trench with his snout 
ere he rolled over flat on his broadside not thrice his 
own length from where I sat. Then the sense of relief 
and of danger averted struck home together : for in that 
“faced round in the moonlight.” 
open ground, short of dropping the enemy dead, there 
could have been but small chance of escape. 
To make sure, we put in two more bullets in the 
heart and presently the stertorous breathing had ceased. 
Then cautiously drawing in, we discovered that our 
prize was not the harmless hippo after all, but a 
gigantic bull-rhinoceros! This fact our men had 
learned earlier—that snort had enlightened them : it 
explained Mabruki’s sudden flight, though Ali Yarna, 
my brother's Somali hunter, had stood firm. This rhino 
carried magnificent horns, the front one over 28 ins. in 
length, second 13 ins., while further up was a third 
