Proceeding Carefully In This
Manner, We Managed To Get Within About Sixty
Yards Of Them, And As It Was My
Turn for a shot, I
took aim at the larger of the two, just as it was
moving its great
Head from one side to the other,
wondering which of us it ought to attack. When
at last it decided upon Brock, it gave me the
chance I had been waiting for. I fired instantly
at the hollow between neck and shoulder; the
brute dropped at once, and save for one or two
convulsive kicks of its stumpy legs as it lay half
on its back, it never moved again. The second
rhino proved to be a well-grown youngster which
showed considerable fight as we attempted to
approach its fallen comrade. We did not want
to kill it, and accordingly spent about two hours
in shouting and throwing stones at it before at
last we succeeded in driving it away. We then
proceeded to skin our prize; this, as may be
imagined, proved rather a tough job, but we
managed it in the end, and the trophy was well
worth the pains I had taken to add it to my
collection.
CHAPTER XVIII
LIONS ON THE ATHI PLAINS
Shortly after I took charge at railhead we
entered the Kapiti Plain, which gradually merges
into the Athi Plain, and, indeed, is hardly to be
distinguished from the latter in the appearance or
general character of the country. Together they
form a great tract of rolling downs covered with
grass, and intersected here and there by dry
ravines, along the baked banks of which a few
stunted trees - the only ones to be seen - struggle
to keep themselves alive. In all this expanse
there is absolutely no water in the dry season,
except in the Athi River (some forty miles away)
and in a few water-holes known only to the wild
animals. The great feature of the undulating
plains, however, and the one which gives them
a never-failing interest, is the great abundance of
game of almost every conceivable kind. Here
I myself have seen lion, rhinoceros, leopard,
eland, giraffe, zebra, wildebeeste, hartebeeste,
waterbuck, wart-hog, Granti, Thomsoni, impala,
besides ostriches, greater and lesser bustard,
marabout, and a host of other animals and birds
too numerous to name; while along the Athi and
close to its banks may be found large numbers of
hippo and crocodiles. At the time I was there,
these great plains also formed the principal
grazing ground for the immense herds of cattle
owned by the Masai. I am very glad to say that
the whole of this country on the south side of
the railway as far as the boundary of German
East Africa, from the Tsavo River on the east
to the Kedong Valley on the west, is now a
strictly protected Game Reserve; and so long,
as this huge expanse is thus maintained as a
sanctuary, there can be no danger of any of
these species becoming extinct.
While crossing this dry expanse, the greatest
difficulty I had to contend with was the provision
of sufficient water for the three thousand
workmen employed about railhead, for not a drop
could be obtained on the way, nor could we
hope for any until we had got to the other side
of the plain and had reached the Athi River,
which could not be accomplished under a couple
of months. As we progressed onwards into the
waterless belt, this became a very serious matter
indeed, as any breakdown in the supply would
have had the most disastrous consequences among
so large a body of men working all day under
the blazing sun of a tropical climate. Every
day two trainloads of water in great tanks were
brought up from the last stream we had passed,
which, of course, daily fell further to the rear.
This was a source of considerable delay, for the
line was blocked all the time the water was being
pumped into the tanks, and consequently no
material for construction could come through;
and a good deal of time was also wasted, when
the trains returned to railhead, in distributing
the water to the workmen, who often quarrelled
and fought in their eagerness to get at it. At
first I had most of the tank-filling done by night,
but on one occasion a lion came unpleasantly
close to the men working the pump, and so
night work had to be abandoned. The coolies
themselves were so anxious, indeed, to get a
plentiful supply of water, that once or twice some
of the more daring spirits among them ventured
to go out on to the plains in search of waterholes,
which, by reason of the large herds of game,
we knew must exist somewhere. The only result
of these expeditions, however, was that three of
these men never returned; what befell them is
not known to this day.
When we had proceeded some distance across
this dry land, and when I was experiencing to
the full the disadvantage and delay caused by
my tank trains, a native from some remote
corner of the plains - with nothing by way of
dress but a small piece of cowhide thrown
over his left shoulder - came to my tent door
one day and squatted down on his heels in the
native fashion. On being asked his business, "I
have heard," he replied, "that the Great Master
wants water; I can show it to him." This was
good news, if it could be relied upon; so I
questioned him closely, and ascertained that some
time previously - exactly how long ago I could
not gather - he had been in the locality on a
raiding expedition and had succeeded in finding
water. I asked if the place was far away, and
got the reply in Swahili "M'bali kidogo" (" A
little distance "). Now, I had had experience of
M'bali kidogo before; it is like the Irishman's
"mile and a bit." So I decided to start very
early next morning on a search for this pond -
for such my informant described it to be.
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