162 
TREKKING 
[CH. VII 
—a bull, a cow, and a big calf—nearly a mile ahead of 
us. We were travelling down wind, and they scented 
us, but did not charge, making off in a semicircle, and 
halting when abreast of us. We examined them care¬ 
fully through the glasses. The cow was bigger than the 
bull, and had fair horns, but nothing extraordinary; 
and as we were twelve miles from camp, so that Heller 
would have had to come out for the night if we shot 
her, we decided to leave her alone. Then our attention 
was attracted by seeing the game all gazing in one 
direction, and we made out a hyena. I got a shot at it, 
at three hundred yards, but missed. Soon afterward we 
saw another rhino, but on approaching it proved to be 
about two-thirds grown, with a stubby horn. We did 
not wish to shoot it, and therefore desired to avoid 
a charge; and so we passed three or four hundred yards 
to leeward, trusting to its bad eyesight. Just opposite 
it, when it was on our right, we saw another hyena on 
our left, about as far off as the rhino. I decided to 
take a shot, and run the chance of disturbing the rhino. 
So I knelt down and aimed with the little Springfield, 
keeping the Holland by me to be ready for events. 
I never left camp, on foot or on horseback, for any dis¬ 
tance, no matter how short, without carrying one of the 
repeating-rifles ; and when on a hunt my two gun- 
bearers carried, one the other magazine rifle, and one 
the double-barrelled Holland. 
Tarlton, whose eye for distance was good, told me 
the hyena was over three hundred yards off; it was 
walking slowly to the left. I put up the three-hundred- 
yard sight, and drew a rather coarse bead; and down 
went the hyena with its throat cut. The little sharp- 
pointed, full-jacketed bullet makes a slashing wound. 
The distance was just three hundred and fifty long 
