I
Immediately Crouched Down, As Did My Men Likewise, Lest The
Animal Should Observe Us.
Slowly, but surely, it came on exactly
towards us, until it was at last so near as to be unpleasant:
I
looked behind me, and I saw by the expression of my men that they
were thinking of retreat. I merely shook my fist, and frowned at
them to give them confidence, and I waited patiently for my
opportunity. It was becoming too ridiculous; the rhinoceros was
within five or six yards, and was slowly but steadily advancing
direct upon us. At the next step that he made, I raised my rifle
gently to my shoulder, and whistled sharply: in an instant it
tossed its head up, and seeing nothing in front, as my clothes
matched with the leafless bushes, it turned its head to the left,
and I immediately pulled the trigger. It fell as though smitten
by a sledge hammer, and it lay struggling on the ground. Bacheet
sprang forward, and with an Arab sword he cut the hamstring of
one leg. To the astonishment of us all, the rhinoceros jumped up,
and on three legs it sprang quickly round and charged Bacheet,
who skipped into the bushes, while I ran alongside the rhinoceros
as it attempted to follow him, and, with Fletcher No. 24, I fired
through the shoulder, by placing the muzzle within a yard of the
animal. It fell dead to this shot, which was another feather in
the cap of the good little rifle.
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