Part 6 (1/2)

Those rhinoceroses looked to hts The African two-horned rhinoceros is a bigger anienerally comes from India One of these brutes I measured went five feet nine inches at the shoulder, and was thirteen feet six inches froht and with the length of yourto take on such beasts in the hurry of surprise, the excitee of the up with the hope of being able to sneak away again was a little too slow and cold-blooded It oing to like it a whole lot better when it was triumphantly over

We were noithin twenty yards (they were standing starboard side on), and I prepared to get my picture To do so I would either have to step quietly out into sight, trusting to the shadow and the slowness of my movements to escape observation, or hold the cauess work It was a little difficult to decide I knehat I OUGHT to do--

Without the slightest pre those two brutes snorted and whirled in their tracks to stand facing in our direction After the dead stillness they made a tremendous roith the jerky suddenness of theirstones and boulders they started down the hill

This was the nificent opportunity At this point I should boldly have stepped out from behind my bush, levelledat fifteen yards” Then, if B's and F's shots went absolutely true, or if the brutes didn't happen to smash the caht be, would have had a fine picture

But I didn't I dropped that expensive 3A Special on sorabbed o confront your motor car at fifteen or twenty paces, erly malicious disposition

They advanced several yards, halted, faced us for perhaps five or six seconds, uttered snort, whirled with the agility of polo ponies, departed at a swinging trot and with surprising agility along the steep side hill

I recovered the caed, and we continued our cliame was concerned It was covered all over with red stones, round, and as large as a man's head Thornbushes found soained to a nificent view Below us lay the narrow flat, then the winding jungle of our river, then long rolling desert country, gray with thorn scrub, sweeping upward to the base of castellated buttes and one tre over the horizon to a very distant blue range Behind us eight or ten h which our journey had coles to ad into our own

Beyond this strea hills, and scrub country, the hint of blue peaks and illi away to the unknown Tara Desert and the sea

There seeained here, so we made up our e of it to overlook the valley of the tributary river This ould descend until we caly we stu stones Then we found ourselves overlooking a wide flat or pocket where the strea of the barrier ranges Thick scrub covered it, but erratically, so that here and there were little openings or thin places We sat down, ave ourselves to the pleasing occupation of looking the country over inch by inch

This is great fun It is a gaenerally develops new and unexpected beasts We repeated to each other aloud the results of our scrutiny, alithout relasses from our eyes

”Oryx, one,” said F; ”oryx, two”

”Giraffe,” reported B, ”and a herd of iiraffe, and another oryx, then two rhinoceroses

The three bearers squatted on their heels behind us, their fierce eyes staring straight ahead, seeing with the naked eye ere finding with six-power glasses

We turned to descend the hill In the very centre of the deep shade of a clulea of this, the beast stepped from his concealment, trotted a short distance upstreae parallel to that by which ere descending About halfway up he stopped, staring in our direction, his head erect, the slight ruff under his neck standing forward He was a good four hundred yards away B, anted him, decided the shot too chancy He and F slipped backward until they had gained the cover of the little ridge, then hastened down the bed of the ravine Their purpose was to follow the course already taken by the waterbuck until they should have sneaked within better range In the unbearers sat down in full view of the buck This was to keep his attention distracted

We sat there a long time The buck never moved but continued to stare at what evidently puzzled him Time passes very slowly in such circumstances, and it seeer to hold his fixed attitude Nevertheless B and F orking hard We caught gli from bush to bush Finally B knelt and levelled his rifle At once I turned lasses on the buck Before the sound of the rifle had reachedrun that indicates a heart hit A moment later the crack of the rifle and the dull plunk of the hitting bullet struck my ear

We tracked him fifty yards to where he lay dead He was a fine trophy, and we at once set the boys to preparing it and taking the meat In the meantime we sauntered down to look at the stream It was a small rapid affair, but in heavy papyrus, with sparse trees, and occasional thickets, and dry hard banks The papyrus should ; but the few points of access to the water failed to showtracks Nevertheless we decided to explore a short distance

For an hour alked a hot earth We sao or three dik-dik and one of the giraffes At that ti down on us as with the weight of a heavy hand The air had the scorching, blasting quality of an opened furnace door Our e of thirst on which no luke-warm canteen water in necessarily limited quantity has any effect So we turned back, picked up the men with the waterbuck, and plodded on down the little stream, or, rather, on the red-hot dry valley botto with our horses We reat thankfulness It was now eleven o'clock, and we considered our day as finished

The best way for a distance seemed to follow the course of the tributary strea, rather relaxed in the suffocating heat F was nearest the stream At one point it freed itself of trees and brush and ran clear, save for low papyrus, ten feet down below a steep eroded bank F looked over and uttered a startled exclamation I spurred my horse forward to see

Below us, about fifteen yards aas the carcass of a waterbuck half hidden in the foot-high grass A lion and two lionesses stood upon it, staring up at us with great yellow eyes That picture is a very vivid one in my memory, for those were the first wild lions I had ever seen

My most lively impression was of their unexpected size They seeer thanenough to see clearly what had disturbed theained the shelter of the thicket

Now the habit in Africa is to let your gunbearers carry all your guns