Upon Our Arrival Among Them, They Looked Exceedingly Sheepish, As
They Were Caught In The Act.
Suspended most carefully upon one
side of the camel, in a network of ropes, was a fine young
rhinoceros which they had caught, having hunted the mother until
she forsook the calf.
Johann Schmidt had offered forty dollars
for any young animal of this species, for the Italian menageries,
therefore to the aggageers this was a prize of great value. I had
hardly directed my attention to the calf, when I noticed a rope
that was forcibly placed under the throat to support the heavy
head, the weight of which bearing upon the cord was evidently
producing strangulation. The tongue of the animal was protruding,
and the tail stiffened and curled convulsively above the back,
while a twitching of the hind legs, that presently stretched to
their full extent, persuaded me that the rhinoceros was in his
last gasp. As I looked intently at the animal, while my Tokrooris
abused Abou Do for having deceived us, I told the aggageers that
they had not gained much by their hunt, as the rhinoceros was
dead. For a moment Abou Do smiled grimly, and, quite unconscious
of the real fact, Suleiman replied, "It is worth forty dollars to
us." "Forty dollars for a dead rhinoceros calf!" I exclaimed;
"who is fool enough to give it?"
Abou Do glanced at the rhinoceros; his expression changed; he
jumped from his horse, and, assisted by the other aggageers, he
made the camel kneel as quickly as possible, and they hastened to
unstrap the unfortunate little beast, which, upon being released
and laid upon its side, convulsively stretched out its limbs, and
lay a strangled rhinoceros. The aggageers gazed with dismay at
their departed prize, and, with superstitious fear, they
remounted their horses without uttering a word, and rode away;
they attributed the sudden death of the animal to the effect of
my "evil eye." We turned towards our camp. My Tokrooris were
delighted, and I heard them talking and laughing together upon
the subject, and remarking upon the extremely "bad eye" of their
master.
On the rising of the sun next day we had struck our camp, and
were upon the march to Delladilla. On the way I shot a splendid
buck mehedehet (R. Ellipsyprimna), and we arrived at our old
quarters, finding no change except that elephants had visited
them in our absence, and our cleanly swept circus was covered
with the dung of a large herd. As this spot generally abounded
with game, I took a single-barrelled small rifle, while the men
were engaged in pitching the tent and arranging the camp, and
with Taher Noor as my only companion, I strolled through the
forest, expecting to obtain a shot at a nellut within a quarter
of a mile. I had walked about that distance, and had just entered
upon a small green glade, when I perceived, lying at full length
upon the sand, a large lion, who almost immediately sprang up,
and at the same moment received a bullet from my rifle as he
bounded beneath a bush and crouched among some withered grass. I
was unloaded, when, to my astonishment, Taher Noor immediately
drew his sword, and, with his shield in his left hand, he
advanced boldly towards the wounded lion. I reloaded as quickly
as possible, just as this reckless Hamran had arrived within
springing distance of the lion, who positively slunk away and
declined the fight; retreating into the thick thorns, it
disappeared before I could obtain a shot. Taher Noor explained,
that his object in advancing towards the lion was to attract its
attention; he had expected that it would have remained in a
crouching position until I should have reloaded; but he ran the
extreme risk of a charge, in which case he would have fared badly
with simple sword and shield. Being close to the tent, I
returned, and, in addition to my single-barrelled rifle, I took
my two Reillys No. 10, with Hassan and Hadji Ali. In company with
Taher Noor we searched throughout the bushes for the wounded
lion, but without success. I now determined to make a cast,
hoping that we might succeed in starting some other animal that
would give us a better chance. The ground was sandy but firm,
therefore we made no sound in walking, and, as the forest was
bounded upon two sides by the river, and separated from the main
land by a ravine, the fire that had cleared the country of grass
had spared this portion, which was an asylum for all kinds of
game, as it afforded pasturage and cover. We had not continued
our stroll for five minutes beyond the spot lately occupied by
the lion, when we suddenly came upon two bull buffaloes, who were
lying beneath a thick bush on the edge of a small glade: they
sprang up as we arrived, and started off. I made a quick shot as
they galloped across the narrow space, and dropped one apparently
dead with a Reilly No. 10. My Tokrooris were just preparing to
run in and cut the throat, as good Mussulmans, when the buffalo,
that was not twenty yards distant, suddenly sprang to his feet
and faced us. In another moment, with a short grunt, he
determined upon a charge, but hardly was he in his first bound,
when I fired the remaining barrel aimed at the point of the nose,
as this was elevated to such a degree that it would have been
useless to have fired at the forehead. He fell stone dead at the
shot; we threw some clods of earth at him, but this time there
was no mistake. Upon an examination of the body, we could only
find the marks of the first bullet that had passed through the
neck; there was no other hole in the skin, neither was there a
sign upon the head or horns that he had been shot; at length I
noticed blood issuing from the nose, and we found that the bullet
had entered the nostril; I inserted a ramrod as a probe, and we
cut to the extremity and found the bullet imbedded in the spine,
which was shattered to pieces in a portion of the neck.
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