Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-07-28
HUNTING RHINoCERoS.
THE SPORT ENJOYED IN BAGGlNG
THE GAME.
The Game Also Had its Turn in
Hunting" the Hunter, Which
Came Near Being Serious.

Taking my eight-bore and half
dozen spare cartridges in my pocket, /
made detour, and reaching the ant
heap in safety, lay down. For mo-
ment the wind had dropped, but pres
emily gentle puff of air passed over me
and blew on toward the rhinoceros.
By-the-way, | wonder what it is that
smells SO strong about man? Is it his
body or his breath? | have never been
able to make out, but | saw somewhere the
other day that in the duck decoys the man
who is working the ducks holds little
piece of burning turf before his mouth,
and that if he does this they cannot smell
him, which looks as though it were the
breath. Well, whatever it was about
me that attracted his attention, the rhin-
oceros soon smelt me. and within half a
minute after the puff of wind had
passed he was up and turning round to get
his head up-wind. There he stood for
few seconds and shifted, and then he began
to move, first Of all at trot; then, as the
c'Nhb SANN III a GGllOD.
On he came, snorting like runaway en-
CINE, with his tail stuck straight up in the
air; if he had seen me lie down there, he
could net have made better line. 1t was
rather nervous work, | can tell you, lying
| there waiting for his onslaught, for he
| looked like a mountain of flesh. | deter
| mined, however, not to fire till / could
plainly see his eye, for think that rule
| always gives one the right distance for big
game. So | rested nay rifle on the ant
heap, and waited for him, kneeling. At
last, when he was about forty yards away,
| saw that the time had come, and aiming
straight for the middle of the chest. /
pulled.
Thud went the heavy bullet, and with a
| tremendous snort over rolled the rhinoc-
eros beneath its shock, Just like shot rab-
bit, But if ! had thought that he was
| done for | was mistaken, for III another
second he was up and coming at me as
hard as ever, only with his head held low
! / waited until he was within ten yards. in
the hope that he would expose his chest,
but he would do nothing of the sort So
! Just had to fire at his head with the left
| barrel, and take my chance. Well, as luck
would have it, of course the animal put its
| horn in the way Of the bullet, which cut
| clean through 1t about three inches above
| the root, and then glanced off into space.
After that things got rather serious Ny
gun was empty, and the rhinoceros was
| rapidly arriving-so rapidly, indeed, that |
came to the conclusion that | had bet
ter make way for him. Accordingly |
jumped to my feet and ran to the right as
ha,.1 I u 4 ! 4 =
| full tilt, knocked my friendly ant-heap fiat,
| and for the second time that day went a
most magnificent cropper. This gave me
| a few seconds start, and | ran down wind
my word, | did runl Unfortunately.
however, my modest retreat was observed,
| and the rhlnoceros, as soon as he got his
legs again, set to work TO run after me.
Now no man on earth can run as fast as an
irritated rhinoceros can gallop, and |
| knew that he must soon catch me
up. But having some slight expert
ence Of this sort of thing, |, luckily
for myself, kept my head, and as | fled
| managed to open my rife, get the old
| cartridges out, and put two fresh ones
in. To do this | had to steady nv
pace a little, and by the time that
had snapped the rife to | heard him
snorting and laundering away within a
few PAGES of my back. 1 stopped, and
as | did so rapidly cooked the rife, and
slowed round upon my heel. By this
time the brute was within six or
seven yards of me, but luckily his head
was up. / lifted the rife and fired at
him. 1t was snap shot, but the bullet
struck him in the chest within three
inches of the first, and found its way
into his lungs. 1t did not stop him,
however, so all l could do was to bound
to one side, which / did with surprising
activity, and as he brushed past me fire
| the other barrel into his side. That
did for him. The ball passed in behind
the shoulder and right through his
heart. He fell over on his side,
gave one most awful squeal-a dozen
pigs could not have made such noise
and promptly died, keeping his wicked
eyes wide open all the time
As for me, blew my nose, and going
up to the rhinoceros, sat on his head, and
reflected that had had capital morn
| ing's shooting.-Ha,per's Kagazine