Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1906-01-18


when a hoarse putting sound arose
some yards to the left. The tall grass
swayed and parted in moving line.
and as we stood watching it somewhat
the head and front of a
rhinoceros emerged
'Keitloa!' exclaimed the native.
This is the name in the Sechuana dia-
lect for the prehensile-lipped black
whose nature is much more
fierce and aggressive than that Of his
cousin. So when saw
those two horns and the small, bleary
pigs eyes under them twinkling malic-
tously at me, stood still and tried to
look respectful.
II dare say my pacific attitude would
have had its intended effect, but the
native lost his head, and suddenly
whooped in my ear, casting his spear
over my shoulder at the same moment
The keen blade sank into the beasts
leathery chest not more than an inch,
and dropped out Immediately; but it
settled the state Of the rhinoceros' feel
ings toward us. He let out two or
three high pressure puffs and charged.
Il knew there was no chance of
bowling him over with head shot, but
fired, and then my guide and parted
company. The bare ground looked 20
be the easier road for a sprint.
"Have you ever seen frightened
rooster run, his legs swapping up as if
they were on elastics? I nearly dis
located mine in my dash for the butte.
l had no time to pick a point of as
cent. A bare wall of rock confronted
me, and l thought that should be
most unpleasantly smashed against it's
surface, when a little ledge Some four
feet above the ground caughc Hy eye.
81 dropped my rifle, put bots hands
on the shelf and swung myself ap on
the run. The old keitloa's horns just
missed me. He snorted savagely, end
rearing mp, thrust his long snout 3ver
the edge A kick from my heavy boot
drove him back few PAGES. Then he
cooked his big head on one side and
looked up at me with an expression
that seemed to say, You're up there all
right, but how about the time when
you come down? You'll find me here
''The shelf was perhaps twenty feet
long and two wide. Overhead was
fiery sun in a cloudless sky, and
back of me smooth, sheer wall OF rock
that threw out heat like a furnace. My
short run had sent my blood up to
what seemed a boiling point, and
there was no means of cooling it.
loosened my clothes and made a fan
of my hat, but my pulse would not go
down. There was no perspiratlon 10
give relief. Dry, dreadful heat choked
me, and like all heavy men under such
conditions. I was seized with the fear
of apoplexy.
ST imagined saw twinkle in the
keitloas little eyes, but there was no
sign of his abandoning the siege. He
destroyed a couple of small bushes
with side sweeps of his ugly horns, Just
to show me what he could do. When
I began to walk along the shelf he
trotted along underneath, flirting his
ridiculous tail.
abruptly with a smooth wall beyond.
In the other it ran to a sharp angle
of the rock I peered round this and
saw another shelf, much broader than
the one l was on, but separated from
it by a four-foot gap. This new ledge
inclined slightly upward and terminal
ed in a black fissure or cave.
Il never saw anything that looked as
cool to me as that cave. The heat OF
that midday sun was terrific. Even a
native could not have long Wlthstood
it exposed on those iron rocks.
cit affected me as if I Were under
water-boiling water. l breathed with
effort, and the back of my head throb-
bed with hard, jarring beats. 1t was
that cave or a sunstroke
Eager as was to gain it, had ner-
vous futterings as hung round the
corner. If it had not been for that cor
ner, the four-foot leap would have been