They were of course not much alarmed, as only
the one cow knew what it was all about anyway, and I suspected
they would stop at the next thicket.
We had only one small canteen of water with us, but we divided
that. It probably did us good, but the quantity was not
sufficient to touch our thirst. For the remainder of the day we
suffered rather severely, as the sun was fierce.
After a short interval we followed on after the buffaloes. Within
a half mile beyond the crest of the hill over which they had
disappeared was another thicket. At the very edge of the thicket,
asleep under an outlying bush, stood one of the big bulls!
Luck seemed with us at last. The wind was right, and between us
and the bull lay only four hundred yards of knee-high grass. All
we had to do was to get down on our hands and knees, and, without
further precautions, crawl up within range and pot him. That
meant only a bit of hard, hot work.
When we were about halfway a rhinoceros suddenly arose from the
grass between us and the buffalo, and about one hundred yards
away.
What had aroused him, at that distance and upwind, I do not know.
It hardly seemed possible that he could have heard us, for we
were moving very quietly, and, as I say, we were downwind.
However, there he was on his feet, sniffing now this way, now
that, in search for what had alarmed him. We sank out of sight
and lay low, fully expecting that the brute would make off.
For just twenty-five minutes by the watch that rhinoceros looked
and looked deliberately in all directions while we lay hidden
waiting for him to get over it. Sometimes he would start off
quite confidently for fifty or sixty yards, so that we thought at
last we were rid of him, but always he returned to the exact spot
where we had first seen him, there to stamp, and blow. The
buffalo paid no attention to these manifestations. I suppose
everybody in jungleland is accustomed to rhinoceros bad temper
over nothing. Twice he came in our direction, but both times gave
it up after advancing twenty-five yards or so. We lay flat on our
faces, the vertical sun slowly roasting us, and cursed that
rhino.
Now the significance of this incident is twofold: first, the fact
that, instead of rushing off at the first intimation of our
presence, as would the average rhino, he went methodically to
work to find us; second, that he displayed such remarkable
perseverance as to keep at it nearly a half hour. This was a
spirit quite at variance with that finding its expression in the
blind rush or in the sudden passionate attack. From that point of
view it seems to me that the interest and significance of the
incident can hardly be overstated.
Four or five times we thought ourselves freed of the nuisance,
but always, just as we were about to move on, back he came, as
eager as ever to nose us out. Finally he gave it up, and, at a
slow trot, started to go away from there. And out of the three
hundred and sixty degrees of the circle where he might have gone
he selected just our direction. Note that this was downwind for
him, and that rhinoceroses usually escape upwind.
We laid very low, hoping that, as before, he would change his
mind as to direction. But now he was no longer looking, but
travelling. Nearer and nearer he came. We could see plainly his
little eyes, and hear the regular swish, swish, swish of his
thick legs brushing through the grass. The regularity of his trot
never varied, but to me lying there directly in his path, he
seemed to be coming on altogether too fast for comfort. From our
low level he looked as big as a barn. Memba Sasa touched me
lightly on the leg. I hated to shoot, but finally when he loomed
fairly over us I saw it must be now or never. If I allowed him to
come closer, he must indubitably catch the first movement of my
gun and so charge right on us before I would have time to deliver
even an ineffective shot. Therefore, most reluctantly, I placed
the ivory bead of the great Holland gun just to the point of his
shoulder and pulled the trigger. So close was he that as he
toppled forward I instinctively, though unnecessarily of course,
shrank back as though he might fall on me. Fortunately I had
picked my spot properly, and no second shot was necessary. He
fell just twenty-seven feet-nine yards -from where we lay!
The buffalo vanished into the blue. We were left with a dead
rhino, which we did not want, twelve miles from camp, and no
water. It was a hard hike back, but we made it finally, though
nearly perished from thirst.
This beast, be it noted, did not charge us at all, but I consider
him as one of the three undoubtedly animated by hostile
intentions. Of the others I can, at this moment, remember five
that might or might not have been actually and maliciously
charging when they were killed or dodged. I am no mind reader for
rhinoceros. Also I am willing to believe in their entirely
altruistic intentions. Only, if they want to get the practical
results of their said altruistic intentions they must really
refrain from coming straight at me nearer than twenty yards. It
has been stated that if one stands perfectly still until the
rhinoceros is just six feet away, and then jumps sideways, the
beast will pass him.
