The huge beast was standing in entirely 
open country, although there were a few 
scattered trees of no great size at some little 
distance from him. We left our horses in a 
dip of the ground and began the approach; 
I cannot say that we stalked him, for the 
approach was too easy. The wind blew 
from him to us, and a rhino’s eyesight is 
dull. Thirty yards from where he stood 
was a bush four or five feet high, and 
though it was so thin that we could dis¬ 
tinctly see him through the leaves, it shielded 
us from the vision of his small piglike eyes 
as we advanced toward it, stooping and in 
single file, I leading. The big beast stood 
like an uncouth statue, his hide black in the 
sunlight; he seemed what he was, a monster 
surviving over from the world’s past, from 
the days when the beasts of the prime ran 
riot in their strength, before man grew so 
cunning of brain and hand as to master 
them. So little did he dream of our pres¬ 
ence that when we were a hundred yards 
off he actually lay down. 
Walking lightly, and with every sense 
keyed up, we at last reached the bush, and 
I pushed forward the safety of the double- 
barrelled Holland rifle which I was now to 
use for the first time on big game. As I 
stepped to one side of the bush so as to get 
a clear aim, with Slatter following, the rhino 
saw me and jumped to his feet with the 
agility of a polo pony. As he rose I put in 
the right barrel, the bullet going through 
both lungs. At the same moment he 
wheeled, the blood spouting from his nos¬ 
trils, and galloped full on us. Before he 
could get quite all the way round in his 
headlong rush to reach us, I struck him 
with my left-hand barrel, the bullet enter¬ 
ing between the neck and shoulder and 
piercing his heart. At the same instant 
Captain Slatter fired, his bullet entering the 
neck vertebrae. Ploughing up the ground 
with horn and feet, the great bull rhino, still 
head toward us, dropped just thirteen paces 
from where we stood. 
This was a wicked charge, for the rhino 
meant mischief and came on with the ut¬ 
most determination. It is not safe to gen¬ 
eralize from a few instances. Judging from 
what I have heard, I am inclined to believe 
that both lion and buffalo are more danger¬ 
ous game than rhino, yet the first two rhinos 
I met both charged, whereas we killed our 
first four lions and first four buffaloes 
without any of them charging, though two 
of each were stopped just as they were on 
the point of charging. Moreover, our ex¬ 
perience with this bull rhino illustrates what 
I have already said as to one animal being 
more dangerous under certain conditions, 
661 
