On The 9th I Went Out Shooting, As Rumanika, With His Usual
Politeness, On Hearing My Desire To Kill Some Rhinoceros, Ordered
His Sons To Conduct The Filed For Me.
Off we started by sunrise
to the bottom of the hills overlooking the head of the Little
Windermere lake.
On arrival at the scene of action - a thicket or
acacia shrubs - all the men in the neighbourhood were assembled to
beat. Taking post myself, by direction, in the most likely place
to catch a sight of the animals, the day's work began by the
beaters driving the covers in my direction. In a very short
time, a fine male was discovered making towards me, but not
exactly knowing where he should bolt to. While he was in this
perplexity, I stole along between the bushes, and caught sight of
him standing as if anchored by the side of a tree and gave him a
broadsider with Blissett, which, too much for his constitution to
stand, sent him off trotting, till exhausted by bleeding he lay
down to die, and allowed me to give him a settler.
In a minute or two afterwards, the good young princes, attracted
by the sound of the gun, came to see what was done. Their
surprise knew no bounds; they could scarcely believe what they
saw; and then, on recovering, with the spirit of true gentlemen,
they seized both my hands, congratulating me on the magnitude of
my success, and pointed out, as an example of it, a bystander who
showed fearful scars, both on his abdomen and at the blade of his
shoulder, who they declared had been run through by one of these
animals.
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