African Game Trails 
contained hippopotami and crocodiles in the trampling of heavy feet and of a big 
the deep pools. I was particularly anxious body being shoved through a dense mass of 
to get one of the former, and early one morn- tropical bush. My companions called to me 
ing Judd and I rode off across the plains, in loud whispers that it was a rhinoceros 
through the herds of grazing game seen coming at us, and to “ Shoot, shoot.” In 
dimly in the dawn, to the Athi. We reached another moment the rhinoceros appeared, 
the river, and, leaving our horses, went standing twitching its tail and tossing and 
down into the wooded bottom, soon after twisting its head from side to side. It did 
sunrise. Judd had with 
him a Masai, a keen-eyed 
hunter, and I my two gun- 
bearers. We advanced 
with the utmost caution 
toward the brink of a great 
pool; ofi our way we saw a 
bushbuck, but of course 
did not dare to shoot at it, 
for hippopotami are wary, 
except in very unfrequent¬ 
ed regions, and any noise 
will disturb them. As we 
crept noiselessly up to the 
steep bank which edged the 
pool, the sight was typically 
African. On the still water 
floated a crocodile, nothing 
but his eyes and nostrils 
visible. The bank was 
covered with a dense 
growth of trees, festooned 
with' vines; among the 
branches sat herons; 
little cormorant dived into 
the water; and a very 
and brilliantly colored 
kingfisher, with a red beak 
not seem to have very good 
horns, and I would much 
rather not have killed it; 
but there hardly seemed 
any alternative, for it cer¬ 
tainly showed every symp¬ 
tom of being bent on mis¬ 
chief. My first shot, at 
under forty yards, pro¬ 
duced no effect whatever, 
except to hasten its ap¬ 
proach. I was using the 
Winchester, with full- 
jacketed bullets; my sec¬ 
ond bullet went in between 
the neck and shoulder, 
bringing it to a halt. I fired 
into the shoulder again, 
and as it turned toward 
the bush I fired into its 
flank both the bullets still 
remaining in my magazine. 
For a moment or two 
after it disappeared we 
heard the branches crash, 
and then there was silence. 
In such cover a wounded 
rhino requires cautious 
and large turquoise crest, perched unheed- handling, and as quietly as possible we 
ingly within a few feet of us. Here and walked through the open forest along the 
there a dense growth of the tall and singu- edge of the dense thicket into which the 
larly graceful papyrus rose out of the water, animal had returned. The thicket was a 
the feathery heads which crowned the long tangle of thorn bushes, reeds, and small, 
draped green stems waving gently to and fro. low-branching trees; it was impossible to 
We scanned the waters carefully, and see ten feet through it, and a man could 
could see no sign of hippos, and, still pro- only penetrate it with the utmost slowness 
ceeding with the utmost caution, we moved and difficulty, whereas the movements of 
a hundred yards farther down to another the rhino were very little impeded. At the 
lookout. Here the Masai detected a hippo far end of the thicket we. examined the 
head a long way off on the other side of the grass to see if the rhino had passed out, 
pool; and we again drew back and started and sure enough there was the spoor, with 
cautiously forward to reach the point oppo- so much blood along both sides that it was 
site which he had seen the head. evident the animal was badly hit. It led 
But we were not destined to get that hip- across this space and into another thicket 
po. Just as we had about reached the of the same character as the first; and 
point at which we had intended to turn in again: we stole cautiously along the edge 
toward the pool, there was a succession some ten yards out. I had'taken the heavy 
of snorts in our front and the sound of Holland double-barrel, and with the safety 
