shed to represent a horn.

'Rhinoceros?' I whispered, using the Kaffir word.

Umkopo gravely nodded his head, and moved forward upon the track. For a
few yards he followed it, but the jungle here was very dry and difficult
for tracking; he soon lost the spoor.

'We must separate,' said I; 'I will go to the right, Umkopo to the
left.' Umkopo nodded, and we separated, Billy following me.

Scarcely had we started, one to right, the other to left, when with
bewildering suddenness a huge creature charged straight at me from out
of a dense clump of brushwood, so suddenly and unexpectedly that my
heart seemed to leap into my mouth, and for a moment I felt unable to
move from the spot to which I seemed rooted. This was not the case with
the Kaffir Billy, who instantly vanished (taking, of course, my spare
rifle with him) 'into thin air.'

I recovered my presence of mind just in time to leap aside at the
critical instant; that is, I avoided the huge lowered head armed with
its great, business-like horn.

But though I avoided instant destruction by moving out of the direct
line of his headlong rush, his shoulder caught me as he passed and sent
me head over heels, stiff and bruised and knocked half senseless.

The rifle flew from my hands, and for the moment I could not see it. I
crept, however, with wonderful swiftness behind a small scrub-bush, and
lay an instant with half-closed eyes, trying to recover my full senses,
but sufficiently conscious to be aware that I must make no sound if I
valued my life.

The rhinoceros had charged on meanwhile, his impetus carrying him thirty
yards beyond the spot where he brushed against me in passing. I could
see that he had now turned and stood listening and watching, his two
wicked little eyes moving this way and that.

Would he see me?

I could now make out the barrel of my rifle lying in a patch of thin
grass. The sun had caught the polished steel and caused it to glint
brightly. As for me, I dared not breathe, much less move out of my cover
in order to secure my weapon.

So matters remained for a full minute; the rhino standing listening, the
rifle lying inaccessible to me, though but five yards away; Umkopo
invisible, doubtless hiding somewhere like myself; the Kaffir, as usual
in moments of danger, goodness only knew where, and my spare rifle with
him.

Suddenly, to my horror, I saw Umkopo deliberately step out from behind a
prickly pear, in full view of the rhino, which,