172 
ON SAFAEI 
concluded, on first seeing their wild rush direct upon us, 
that they were deliberately charging to the shot—to the 
spot whence the sound had come—presumably to exact 
retribution. But their never stopping, their holding 
that wild career afar, negatived any such solution. 
’Twas better so; but it leaves their precise motive, their 
line of reasoning, a mystery. 
Determined to risk no more “regrettable incidents'’ 
that day, w T e set out direct for camp; but finding that 
the spoor of the angry rhino led in the same direction, 
as a mere matter of duty we followed on it, though I 
had lost all faith in my star. 
Salim presently stopped, pointing ahead, and I saw 
among sere grass, 150 yards away, something that 
appeared yellow. Both my men declared this to be the 
wounded rhino, lying down. 1 felt convinced they 
were mistaken, though rhinos certainly do take extra¬ 
ordinary colours, dependent on the nature of the mud 
in their latest wallow. We had crept in to 100 yards 
when something like a big paw slowly stretched 
heavenwards, then disappeared. “ Lion ? ” 1 said, but 
both men persisted in their former verdict. Now it was 
perfectly open prairie all round, devoid of shelter or 
refuge of any kind, and in such ground it would be 
unwise to “walk-up” a wounded rhino—especially 
such an evil-tempered beast as that we had just been 
watching, though one need not hesitate to take-on a 
lion so. While firmly of opinion that the yellow object 
ahead was a lion asleep, I, this luckless day, allowed 
myself to be overruled by the two hunters, who (with 
their keener, savage eyesight) were equally positive that 
it was the rhino—indeed, Salim even explained how the 
beast was lying. 
It was Kismet once more. On firing (aiming, as for 
a rhino, rather low), up sprang a lioness, and within 
three bounds disappeared in a dip, while all around the 
veld was full of bouncing lion-cubs as big as setters— 
six or seven of them, the men declared. The whole 
family had been lying asleep in the grass, and, had 
