Abou Do Was Third, His Hair Flying In
The Wind, His Heels Dashing Against The Flanks Of His Horse, To
Which he
shouted in his excitement to urge him to the front, while he leaned
forward with his long sword,
In the wild energy of the moment, as though
hoping to reach the game against all possibility.
Now for the spurs! and as these, vigorously applied, screwed an extra
stride out of Tetel, I soon found myself in the ruck of men, horses, and
drawn swords. There were seven of us, and passing Abou Do, whose face
wore an expression of agony at finding that his horse was failing, I
quickly obtained a place between the two brothers, Taher and Roder
Sherrif. There had been a jealousy between the two parties of aggageers,
and each was striving to outdo the other; thus Abou Do was driven almost
to madness at the superiority of Taher's horse, while the latter, who
was the renowned hunter of the tribe, was determined that his sword
should be the first to taste blood. I tried to pass the rhinoceros on my
left, so as to fire close into the shoulder my remaining barrel with my
right hand, but it was impossible to overtake the animals, who bounded
along with undiminished speed. With the greatest exertion of men and
horses we could only retain our position within about three or four
yards of their tails - just out of reach of the swords. The only chance
in the race was to hold the pace until the rhinoceroses should begin.
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