464 
ROOSEVELT IN WILDS OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
This was not to their taste. They were out for hippos, not for 
rhinos, and had no wish to kill this unlooked-for visitor. But a 
rhino is an ugly customer to deal with and will often charge the hunter 
without waiting for cause or provocation. This was the case with the 
present vicious brute. It rushed in mad fury upon the hunters and 
was not checked until two bullets had torn through its thick hide. 
Several other shots followed and the wounded brute sought refuge in 
a neighboring thorn thicket. 
Not wishing to leave the wounded animal to die in misery they 
followed it, tracing it by its blood, though they found the passage 
of the thicket slow work. Their hunt was ended by another furious 
charge from the wounded brute, but two more heavy bullets finished 
the work and the rhino fell dead. It was one of the most vicious met 
with in the Roosevelt hunts. 
The rhinoceros disposed of, the sportsmen returned to their 
hippo hunt, and succeeded in hitting one of which only the head was 
visible above the water. It vanished when struck, but on their return 
the next day the huge body was found dead. 
The Roosevelt party remained guests of Mr. McMullen for ten 
days, leaving the ranch for Nairobi on May 26th. On their last day’s 
hunt Roosevelt added a buffalo to his score, while Kermit brought 
down a bull wildebeest. On their arrival at Nairobi the}^ became 
the guests of Lieutenant-Governor Jackson, who made every effort to 
give them a pleasant recollection of the capital of British East Africa. 
They had now spent about a month in the hunting fields and had as 
relics of their skill the skins and skulls of eighty animals belonging to 
twenty-two species. These had been carefully prepared by Mr. 
Edmund Heller, the skilled naturalist of the expedition, preparatory 
to shipping them to the Smithsonian Institution for scientific study and 
display. 
During these days of hunting and the subsequent brief stays at 
Nairobi, Colonel Roosevelt displayed the characteristics of energy and 
activity for which he had become famous in his native land. He aston¬ 
ished all those with whom he came in contact alike for his power of 
endurance and his versatility. There was no, subject with which he 
did not seem familiar, almost as much so as if he had made it a special 
