St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-08-26

within an hour or two. While the pit
was deep enough for rhinOceros, it
was too shallow for large elephant.
When standing on the bottom his tuSks
and trunk mad been clear of the sur
face OF the ground, and he had them to
work with. He had dug down on one
side of the pit full three feet, and the
dirt had been drawn INTO the pit to ele-
vate him. He may have had lift from
the others when the pinch came, but he
had been gone several hours when we
reached the pit.
Our Second Capture
had a funny side to it. Some ten or
twelve of us, all men, were returning
from bee hunt one day, and we struck
into this path as short cut home. At
this time not rhinoceroS had been seen
in our neighborhood for month, but as
the path was long one and walled in
with thorns, we took the precaution of
sending in the three men who had the
honey on ahead. After they had been
gone about ten minutes we were ready to
move. We sat juStat the entrance of the
path, with open grounds on three sides
OF us. To the left of us was the extern
Sion of the thicket. / had been carry
ing smooth. white stone. which l had
picked up in the bed of dry creek, and
now [ gave it a fling into the thicket.
The results were Immediate and uneX-
pected. The stone had hardly fallen
when there was a wool" and great
crashing, and all of us realized that a
rhinoceroS was charging us. Our way
lay up the path, and il so happened that
l was the last one TO enter 1t. The
beast was not yet in sight as | turned TO
flee, but before / had gone hundred
feet she was out of the thicket.
Sailors are not accounted good sprint
ers, but even man with wooden leg
would have made squirt for it under
the circumstances. kept close to the
heels of the last native, but had not run
a hundred yards when l realized the
rhinoceroS was gaining on me.
The path was perhaps six feet wide,
with no possible chance to escape to the
right or left. The wicked thorn bushes
would let nothing but a rhinocerOS or
elephant pass, and the elephant will not
crash into them except when hard
pushed. We were nearly half mile
from the pit, and it was our only hope
of safety as we ran. Fortunately for
US nothing disturbed it. and when /
crossed it the rhlnoceroS was not over
ten feet behind me. Indeed, as | went
over the covering at one end he crashed
through it at another. He went into
the pit with loud grunt and then we
saw what we had not before suspected
a second beast bearing down in the
wake of the first. He made an effort to
check his speed, and vert in on top of
the other with an awful crash. He got
N "
legs kicking in the air, and we killed
both the animals with our spears.
One time, a year OF more after the
above occurrence, while out hunting
with two young men, we were suddenly
charged by a rhinocerOS as we were
passing an open spot in the forest. The
beast was standing under large tree,
and the first we knew of him he was
charging in grand style, and only about
forty feet away. We lodged him right
and left, and made for a tree. One of
the natives dropped his spear as he
lodged, and in stopping to recover it he
lost time.
The Rh1nocerOs
wheeled and pursued, and just before
reaching the tree where the two of us
were already safely perched, the man
was picked up. No steer could have
given his head a quicker fiirt than this
ungaInly beast did. and his victim was
lifted fifteen feet high and flung into
the limbs of the tree. While badly hurt
about the left hip, he managed to hold
onto a branch until we could 60 TO his
rescue. The beast took few turns
around the tree and then shambled off,
probably feeling that he had done
something which would be put on rec
ord as smart.
They are not always to be got rid of
so easily, however. On a subsequent
occasion, while was out with half
grown boy to select location for a pit.
we were standing under tree very
quietly when big male rhinOceroS
which had been wall0wing in the mud
of a swamp few rods away, rolled out
of his bed and charged at us. He had
our scent, but did not see us and he
dashed at bushes and trees, and became
shin up the tee and get out of his way.
He finally saw us, and his rage knew
no bounds when we had escaped.
The tree was no larger than a mans
body, with the first branches about
twelve feet up. The beast made the
bark and splinters fly with his horn, and
finally got down and rooted the earth
and tore at the roots until we saw the
tree must fall. We scrambled higher
up, and he put his shoulder to the trunk
and sagged backward and forward
At length the tree was uprooted, but
as it fell it lodged in the branches of
another, as we knew it must, and we
were still safe. We had kept very
quiet, hoping his fury would the
sooner pass away, but it seemed to be
one of his Off days, and he wanted to
hurt somebody. For two long hours he
shuff1ed around below us, snorting his
anger and tearing up the vines and
bushes, and then he e0olly lay down to
wait for us to make the next move.
This was at o'clock in the morning,
and it was near shutdown when he left
US. He might not have gone then, but
a buffalo emerged from thicket about
twenty rods away, and as soon as the
rhinocerous got sight of him he charged.
We slipped down and ian away as soon
as we saw him go. and thus got safely
ont Of the ScranQ