Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1898-06-10
rhE LIVELY %RAlNocERos.
Antics at the Huge Animal Upon
EcentinR q Caravan.

I
Antics At h Huge Animal Upon
ecenting q Caravan. +,
Armed In his heavy hide, almost
ar1nor-plated, equipped for both Of
Tense aud defense, the formidable and
ponderous rhinOcerOs is not ut all the
animal whose angry onset one would
imagine to be a laughing matter. New
ertheless, the tonc in which Major j.
r. Macdonald, who has had ample ex-
perience, treats such M accident is
about that in which an ordinary per-
might relate the scattering of q
group of girls by a too sportive calf,
or a COW OF overinquisitive disposition.
In making the difficult survey for q
projected railroad in East Africa, rhin-
oceroses- We're more than once dis
turbed. in the lair by the majors party.
Sometimes they resented the intru-
sion,. while on other occasions they
seemed moved by curiosity to come and
investigate the They were
not dreaded though they were certain-
ly, when they came to close quarters,
avoided. and that nimbly.
"a caravan passing a solitary rhih.
oceros to- windward Affords" u y
Major Maedonald, "a very amusing.
spectacle. The great beast scents the
1t out-he is dull of sfght-so he stands
facing it.. and wagging his mt
head from. side to side in great uncer-
tainty. Then up goes his tail and he
comes. tearing down, only to pull up
after twenty or thirty yards to repeat
his, investigation.
ITO give time for reflection, he then
trotaalong parallel to the caravan. till.
on an extra strong Whit of scent, he
wheels. round and again makes a head
long charge for a few yards. This
stupid performance is repeated until. in
most cases, the a has. safely
passed and the rhinoceros is left In his
uncertainty.
sometimes, however, the caravan Is
Of such length, or SO slow, that q charge
home comes off; then the porters drop
their loads and scatter, and. the rhin-
oeeros gallops through the line. and
away up-wind, with his tail In the DIR.
add no damage DONE"
The first time that the major person.
ally encountered q rhinoceros, he did
so unexpectedly, and much too near,
in fact, for a few minutes he and tho
rhinoceros INDUCED in q brisk i'm.
promptu game Of tag about a dry gully
and some trees, until he could get an
opportunity to load and shoot. His
friend Pringle watched and enjoyed
the episode; but before many weeks
the tables were turned, and 1t was Prin.
gle who was pursued, and the major
who looked on.
"There is n theory" says Major Mao
donald, that you can always turn n
rhinoceros ii you reserve your fire.
Pringle gave the beast one barrel at
about fifty yards, and another at ten.
But that r%hinoceros was not one of the
sort to turn, and but for the fact that
Pringle was q very active man, he and
the rhinoceros would have changed
roles. and he would have constituted
the bag. AS 1t was, the wounded ami.
NAL made off and got clear away.
ION another occasion a rhinoceros
charged the carava and began to play
cup-and-ball with a bale, to the great
amusement Of Pringle and his follow
ers. Judge of Pringle's disgust when
he found 1t was his own bedding which
had formed the bale, and that it had,
moreover, acquired a rich variety Of
holes during the operation"