There the crocodile lay sunning himself on the
sand bank. I supposed he must be dead; but when I accidentally broke a
twig, he immediately commenced to slide off into the water. Thereupon
I stopped him with a bullet in the spine. The first shot had smashed
a hole in his head, just behind the eye, about the size of an ordinary
coffee cup. In spite of this wound, which would have been instantly
fatal to any warm-blooded animal, the creature was so little affected
that it actually reacted to a slight noise made at some distance from
where it lay. Of course the wound would probably have been fatal in the
long run.

The best spot to shoot at, indeed, is not the head but the spine
immediately back of the head.

These brutes are exceedingly powerful. They are capable of taking down
horses and cattle, with no particular effort. This I know from my
own observation. Mr. Fleischman, however, was privileged to see
the wonderful sight of the capture and destruction of a full-grown
rhinoceros by a crocodile. The photographs he took of this most
extraordinary affair leave no room for doubt. Crossing a stream was
always a matter of concern to us. The boys beat the surface of the water
vigorously with their safari sticks. On occasion we have even let loose
a few heavy bullets to stir up the pool before venturing in.

A steep climb through thorn and brush would always extricate us from the
river jungle when we became tired of it. Then we found ourselves in a
continuous but scattered growth of small trees. Between the trunks of
these we could see for a hundred yards or so before their numbers closed
in the view. Here was the favourite haunt of numerous beautiful impalla.
We caught glimpses of them, flashing through the trees; or occasionally
standing, gazing in our direction, their slender necks stretched high,
their ears pointed for us. These curious ones were generally the does.
The bucks were either more cautious or less inquisitive. A herd or so
of eland also liked this covered country; and there were always a
few waterbuck and rhinoceroses about. Often too we here encountered
stragglers from the open plains-zebra or hartebeeste, very alert and
suspicious in unaccustomed surroundings.

A great deal of the plains country had been burned over; and a
considerable area was still afire. The low bright flames licked their
way slowly through the grass in a narrow irregular band extending
sometimes for miles. Behind it was blackened soil,