Page 121 - Adventures in Africa

cast my eyes anxiously around almost expecting to

see one emerge from the thicket, while at the same
time I looked out eagerly for the return of my friend.
Once more the trumpeting burst forth, the sounds
echoing through the forest, I thus knew that the

elephant had not yet fallen. 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 in-

creased 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 rille
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 soj 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 wish­

ing 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 rhino-

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