162 
EAST AFRICA AND ITS BIG GAME. 
native gun-bearer, is pointed straight for the middle 
of your spine when you are crawling into game. I 
would advise all sportsmen to insist, as I did after 
this episode, upon all their gun-bearers following 
with the butt of the rifle advanced. On turning round, 
I found my boy Faas dancing about and tearing his 
hair under the impression I was dead; so I caught 
hold of his leg aud pulled him down, for by this time 
the rhinos, startled by the report, were, strangely 
enough, advancing slowly upon us, instead of running- 
off in the opposite direction. They came on so straight 
that I began to think they would walk right over us, 
without giving me a chance to shoot, but the big one 
turned and gave me a slanting shot within twenty yards, 
and with the second barrel of my 577° rifle I finished 
her before she had gone any distance. I regret to add 
that the half-grown calf would not be driven off, 
and, mindful of my last experience, I declined to risk 
a charge. In firing at it I must have cocked both 
barrels, a thing I had been careful not to do since the 
last time they went off together; anyhow, the same 
accident occurred, but luckily without knocking my 
shoulder about very severely, as it was now protected 
by a sponge placed inside the coat. This was, of 
course, regarded by the natives as some mysterious 
magic (mchowi), introduced with the idea of enabling 
me to shoot straight and to hit hard. 
The adventures of the day were not yet over, for as 
I was riding home, on the donkey I had brought in 
case I felt weak after my recent bout of fever, I came 
