My Instructions Were To Hurry On The
Construction Of The Line As Fast As Possible To Nairobi,
The Proposed Headquarters
Of the Railway
Administration, which lay about fifty miles
further on across the Athi Plains; and I soon
began to
Find platelaying most interesting work.
Everything has to move as if by clockwork.
First the earth surface has to be prepared and
rendered perfectly smooth and level; cuttings
have to be made and hollows banked up; tunnels
have to be bored through hills and bridges thrown
across rivers. Then a line of coolies moves along,
placing sleepers at regular intervals; another
gang drops the rails in their places; yet another
brings along the keys, fishplates, bolts and nuts
while following these are the men who actually
fix the rails on the sleepers and link up from
one to another. Finally, the packing gang finishes
the work by filling in earth and ballast under and
around the steel sleepers to give them the
necessary grip and rigidity. Some days we were able
to lay only a few yards, while on other days we
might do over a mile; all depended on the
nature of the country we had to cover. On one
occasion we succeeded in breaking the record
for a day's platelaying, and were gratified at
receiving a telegram of congratulation from the
Railway Committee at the Foreign Office.
I made it my custom to take a walk each
morning for some distance ahead of rails along
the centre-line of the railway, in order to spy out
the land and to form a rough estimate of the
material that would be required in the way of
sleepers, girders for temporary bridges, etc. It
was necessary to do this in order to avoid undue
delay taking place owing to shortage of material
of any kind. About ten days after my arrival at
Machakos Road I walked in this way for five or
six miles ahead of the last-laid rail. It was
rather unusual for me to go so far, and, as it
happened, I was alone on this occasion, Mahina
having been left behind in camp. About two
miles away on my left, I noticed a dark-looking
object and thinking it was an ostrich I started off
towards it. Very soon, however, I found that it
was bigger game than an ostrich, and on getting
still nearer made out the form of a great rhinoceros
lying down. I continued to advance very
cautiously, wriggling through the short grass until
at length I got within fifty yards of where the
huge beast was resting. Here I lay and watched
him; but after some little time he evidently
suspected my presence, for rising to his feet, he
looked straight in my direction and then
proceeded to walk round me in a half-circle. The
moment he got wind of me, he whipped round
in his tracks like a cat and came for me in a
bee-line. Hoping to turn him, I fired instantly;
but unfortunately my soft-nosed bullets merely
annoyed him further, and had not the slightest
effect on his thick hide. On seeing this, I flung
myself down quite flat on the grass and threw
my helmet some ten feet away in the hope that
he would perceive it and vent his rage on it
instead of me. On he thundered, while I scarcely
dared to breathe. I could hear him snorting and
rooting up the grass quite close to me, but luckily
for me he did not catch sight of me and charged
by a few yards to my left.
As soon as he had passed me, my courage
began to revive again, and I could not resist the
temptation of sending a couple of bullets after
him. These, however, simply cracked against
his hide and splintered to pieces on it, sending
the dry mud off in little clouds of dust. Their
only real effect, indeed, was to make him still
more angry. He stood stock-still for a moment,
and then gored the ground most viciously and
started off once more on the semi-circle round
me. This proceeding terrified me more than
ever, as I felt sure that he would come up-wind
at me again, and I could scarcely hope to escape
a second time. Unfortunately, my surmise
proved correct, for directly he scented me, up
went his nose in the air and down he charged
like a battering-ram. I fairly pressed myself into
the ground, as flat as ever I could, and luckily the
grass was a few inches high. I felt the thud of
his great feet pounding along, yet dared not move
or look up lest he should see me. My heart was
thumping like a steam hammer, and every moment
I fully expected to find myself tossed into the
air. Nearer and nearer came the heavy thudding
and I had quite given myself up for lost, when
from my lying position I caught sight, out of the
corner of my eye, of the infuriated beast rushing
by. He had missed me again! I never felt so
relieved in my life, and assuredly did not attempt
to annoy him further. He went off for good
this time, and it was with great satisfaction that
I watched him gradually disappear in the distance.
I could not have believed it possible that these
huge, ungainly-looking brutes could move so
rapidly, and turn and twist in their tracks just
like monkeys, had I not actually seen this one
do so before my eyes. If he had found me he
would certainly have pounded me to atoms, as he
was an old bull and in a most furious and vicious
mood.
One day when Dr. Brock and I were out
shooting, shortly after this incident and not far
from where it occurred, we caught sight of two
rhinos in a hollow some little distance from us,
and commenced to stalk them, taking advantage
of every fold of the ground in doing so and
keeping about fifty yards apart in case of a charge.
In that event one or other of us would be able to
get in a broadside shot, which would probably
roll the beast over.
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