262 ELEPHANT-HUNTING [ch. x 
with her. Late in the afternoon we saw an elephant a 
mile and a half away, crossing a corner of the open 
downs. We followed its trail until the light grew too 
dim for shooting, but never overtook it, although at the 
last we could hear it ahead of us breaking the branches ; 
and we made our way back to camp through the dark¬ 
ness. 
The other day made amends. It was Kermit’s turn 
to shoot an elephant and mine to shoot a rhinoceros, 
and each of us was to act as the backing gun for the 
other. In the forenoon we saw a bull rhino with a good 
horn walking over the open downs. A convenient hill 
enabled us to cut him off without difficulty, and from 
its summit we killed him at the base, fifty or sixty yards 
off. His front horn was nearly twenty-nine inches long ; 
but though he was an old bull, his total length, from 
tip of nose to tip of tail, was only twelve feet, and he 
was, I should guess, not more than two-thirds the bulk 
of the big bull I killed in the Sotik. 
We rested for an hour or two at noon, under the 
shade of a very old tree with glossy leaves and orchids 
growing on its gnarled, hoary limbs, while the unsaddled 
horses grazed and the gun-bearers slept near by, the 
cool mountain air, although this was midday, under the 
Equator, making them prefer the sunlight to the shade. 
When we moved on it was through a sea of bush ten 
or fifteen feet high, dotted here and there with trees, 
and riddled in every direction by the trails of elephant, 
rhinoceros, and buffalo. Each of these animals fre¬ 
quents certain kinds of country to which the other two 
rarely or never penetrate; but here they all three found 
ground to their liking. Except along their winding 
trails, which were tunnels where the jungle was tall, 
