At Once The Truth Flashed Upon Me That, Although Abou Do
Had Promised To Return Direct Home, He Was Somewhere In The
Neighbourhood, And He And His Two Companions Were Disturbing The
Country By Hunting.
I at once gave up the idea of following the
elephants, as, in all probability, these aggageers had pursued
them some hours ago.
In a very bad humour I turned my horse's
head and took the direction for the Settite river. As we
descended from the hilly ground, after the ride of about four
miles, we arrived upon an extensive plain, upon which I noticed
a number of antelopes galloping as though disturbed; a few
moments later I observed three horsemen, a camel, and several men
on foot, steering in the same direction as ourselves for the
river, but arriving from the high ground upon which we had seen
the elephants. These were soon distinguished, and I rode towards
them with my people; they were the aggageers, with some of the
hippopotami hunters.
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.
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