n. A minute
afterwards I heard the crashing of boughs and brushwood some way off. I
guessed, as I listened, that the animal was coming towards where I lay.
The sounds increased in loudness. Should it discover me it would
probable revenge itself by crushing me to death, or tossing me in the
air with its trunk. I had my rifle ready to fire. There was a chance
that I might kill it or make it turn aside. The ground where I lay
sloped gradually downwards to a more open spot. I expected the next
instant that the elephant would appear. It did so, but further off than
I thought it would, and I thus began to hope that I should escape its
notice. It was moving slowly, though trumpeting with pain and rage.
The instant I caught sight of it another huge creature rushed out of the
thicket on the opposite side of the glade. It was a huge bull
rhinoceros with a couple of sharp-pointed horns one behind the other.

The elephant on seeing it stopped still, as if wishing to avoid a
contest with so powerful an antagonist, I fully expected to witness a
long and terrible fight, and feared that, in the struggle, the animals
might move towards where I lay and crush me. That the elephant was
wounded I could see by the blood streaming down its neck. This probably
made it less inclined to engage in a battle with the rhinoceros.
Instead of advancing it stood whisking its trunk about and trumpeting.
The rhinoceros, on the contrary, after regarding it for a moment, rushed
fearlessly forward and drove its sharp-pointed horns into its body while
it in vain attempted to defend itself with its trunk. The two creatures
were now locked together in a way which made it seem impossible for them
to separate, unless the horns of the rhinoceros were broken off. Never
did I witness a more furious fight. The elephant attempted to throw
itself down on the head of its antagonist, and thereby only drove the
horns deeper into its own body. So interested was I, that I forgot the
pain I was suffering, while I could hear no other sounds than those
produced by the two huge combatants. While I was watching them, I felt
a hand on my shoulder, and saw Harry standing over me.

"I am sorry you have met with this accident!" he exclaimed. "The sooner
you get away from this the better. There is a safer spot a little
higher up the bank, Toko and I will carry you there."

I willingly consenting, my friends did as they proposed, as from thence
I could watch the