My First Rhinoceros. 
It was three years ago that I made my first 
trip to British East Africa, and although I 
fancied that I had killed my share of big game, 
having been in Rhodesia and Central Africa for 
several years, I had not yet had the luck to kill 
a rhino. Cine I had seen in Rhodesia, and only 
one. It was in very thick bush, and I had been 
unable to get a shot, and although practically 
following up for two days, he got the best of 
me. and I had to give it up. 
In Central Africa rhino are scarce, or at least 
not nearly so plentiful as further north, and on 
going to British East Africa, it was one of my 
special wishes to bag one of these ferocious 
animals. Savage they are, and there is no 
doubt about it. They do not stand on ceremony 
and wait to be hunted, but will hunt you and 
your caravan, however large it may be, especi¬ 
ally if you are in their way. Their sense of 
smell is extremelj’’ keen, but, thank goodness, 
their eyesight is very bad. 
We had been out several weeks—that is, W., 
who was my guide, and myself—and enjoyed 
very fair sport, but up to this time had not 
seen a rhino, which was, to say the least, very 
annoying, as we had come across plenty of fresh 
spoor. I also had boys out, whose duty it was 
to report immediately on finding what we 
wanted. It only shows the extraordinary luck 
of sport. Because you particularly want rhino, 
you cannot find one, but if you were not keen 
on seeing one, in all likelihood you would run 
across several. 
As I mentioned, I had with me W., one of the 
best guides and hunters I have ever known, 
cool, keen, good-tempered, and a happy knack 
of hitting it off with the natives, a dead shot, 
and the bravest man in his particular line that 
I ever ran across. Several times we have been 
in queer places together, and I always found 
him all there. Naturally I had the greatest 
confidence in him, and I may say that anybody 
wishing to shoot in that country could not do 
better than to get hold of him, and I will 
gladly give any sportsman his name if desired. 
At last the boys brought in word that they 
had seen two large rhino which had disappeared 
in a large patch of thick brush, and they had 
not gone out. So we determined to try and 
find them. l' must say that to hunt rhino in 
thick bush was rather a foolish thing to under¬ 
take, but we determined to try it. Starting out 
immediately, I armed with a double .450-400, 
shooting 60 grains of cordite, and W. with a 
Mannlicher—and I may add that with this_ little 
weapon he does all his hunting, elephant and 
everything—away we hurried. 
On reaching the patch of bush, which was 
about a mile long and half a mile across, we 
found it very thick and utterly impassable, ex¬ 
cept by the game paths, of which there were a 
good many. The wind was favorable, so we 
decided to go quietly through the bush, each 
taking a game path and keeping in touch with 
one another as far as possible. We took no 
boys with us, but left them on the outside of 
the bush to watch. I was worse than nervous, 
and if it had not been for appearing ridiculous 
in W.’s eyes, I should not have dreamt of going 
further, but because he went, I went. 
Every sound to me appeared to be a charg¬ 
ing rhino, and every bird getting up made me 
start and grip my rifle. On we went, the further 
side of the bush getting nearer and nearer, and 
I must truthfully say, I thanked my stars that 
up to that time nothing had turned up. and in 
another few minutes we were out in the open 
again where we sat down for a short time. I 
pretended to be so sorry and annoyed at not 
having found the rhino, telling W. what I 
should have done if one had charged. Run 
away? Why rather not; just step aside and 
shoot him in the neck as he charged past? A 
few minutes of silence were broken by W. say¬ 
ing, “Well, I tell you what we will do, we 
will go through it again, downwind.” I had 
to agree, but suggested that perhaps it would 
be as well to go together, to which W. laughingly 
agreed, adding, “Why, surely you are not get¬ 
ting nervous?” 
We started to return; after going about half 
way through the bush, there was a most awful 
commotion, and the two rhino charged straight 
at us, snorting like steam engines. I must ex¬ 
plain that I had asked W. not to shoot unless 
necessary, as I was anxious to have the entire 
kudos of killing my rhino by myself. One 
charged straight at me, down the narrow 
path, and I literally did as I had said, stepped 
on one side and shot her in the neck as she 
thundered by, in the most approved manner, and 
she fell within a few feet. 
I think most people, when danger is really 
staring them in the face, have the power to pull 
themselves together and act instantly, and God 
help the man who cannot; he certainly should 
not hunt dangerous game. Several times I 
have been forced to do this, or chance a dread¬ 
ful end. The second rhino charged past and 
stopped about thirty yards off, trying to find out 
our whereabouts. The wind was again in our 
favor. The bush was so dense that from where 
I was I could not chance a shot, and so I left 
the cover of the friendly bush behind which I 
had jumped immediately after firing at No. i 
and tried to get a clear shot. Bang! An angry 
stamp was all I saw, although I could plainly 
hear the thud of my heavy bullet; but before 
I could get in my second shot, on he came right 
at me. I tried to jump out of the vvay, caught 
my foot in a creeper and over I went. Luckily 
for me, W. shot him twice, and was enabled 
to turn him, so that he missed me by about 
three yards, and there he stood again, squinting 
his horrible little pig eyes and trying to find 
me. 
In falling down, I had dropped my rifle and 
did not dare to move, for fear of attracting 
his notice. I could plainly hear his hard 
breathing and could see that he was badly hit, 
as he swayed about, and could scarcely keep on 
his legs. W. called out in his cheery voice, 
“All right, get your rifle and finish him off, I will 
cover you while you do it.” I think I lay still 
another minute before attempting to reach my 
rifle, and then I groped very carefully with my 
right hand and reached it. Moving only enough to 
enable me to get the rifle to my shoulder. I 
fired both barrels as quickly as I could, and 
down he dropped, but still he was not finished, 
and I had to give him his coup de grace with 
another shot. 
All these shots were practically dead shots, 
but this is where the danger comes in. I have 
seen all kinds of game go on for some dis¬ 
tance with a shot right through the heart be¬ 
fore falling down, and with the larger animals I 
think it is more often seen than with smaller 
ones. 
He was a real good specimen, his first horn 
measuring twenty-six inches, and the cow was 
very little smaller, so that I had succeeded in 
getting two very fine average specimens at one 
go. Even now when looking at rhino in a 
zoological garden, the few awful moments I 
went through—which seemed to me then to be 
hours—come back most vividly, and I look up 
when I am sitting in my den at those two 
mounted heads and think! 
There are several ways of utilizing a rhino as 
regards trophies. Personally I have the heads 
mounted. They are certainly rather cumbersome, 
but very unique. The skin I have had made into 
the top of a table. They polish most beauti¬ 
fully and make a most useful article of furni¬ 
ture, and the feet and legs into feet and legs 
of the table. It really makes an exceptionally 
fine trophy and is the admiration and envy of 
all who see it. ' A Full Hand. 
Hunting in the Capitans. 
A Tulsa (I. T.) paper says Ira Isenberger 
and Clarence Render, of Tulsa, and D. A. Tay¬ 
lor, of Beaver Dam, Ky., returned this week 
from a three weeks’ big game hunt in the Cap- 
itan Mountains of New Mexico. The party 
brought back as souvenirs of their trip numer¬ 
ous hides and other trophies. The party killed 
seven blacktail deer, four brown and one 
bald-face bear, and five black eagles, be¬ 
sides much small game. The hides of the deer 
and the bear pelts are in fine condition and will 
be sent to Denver to be mounted or made into 
rugs. Speaking of the hunt, Mr. Isenberger 
stated that the party camped in !McEllis canon, 
about sixty miles west of Roswell, and aside 
from two light snowfalls had most ideal weather 
for comfort, and at all times the finest hunting 
conditions. With the party was Ray Jacobs, 
whose bear hounds have a national reputation 
and whose services as guide and hunter were 
almost indispensable in the rough country visited. 
The most magnificent specimen brought back by 
the party was a mule deer killed on the head¬ 
waters of the McEllis canon that weighed 280 
pounds. 
