The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1909-02-25

missed He saw me, and, trumpeting
loudly, charged down on US, followed
by the whole herd. emptied my
magazine into them with no effect.
Nearer they came, their ivory gleam-
ing In the sun and the dust curling
up in clouds behind them. The
ground vibrated like beaten drum
top under their thunderous charge.
| saw tusk-crested wave OF mann
moths sweeping down to destroy us.
1t was no time for inaction. The gun
bearer handed me the six hundred ex-
press. AT hundred yards gave The
leader one barrel after the other. He
fell, and those behind tumbled over
him In heap. For moment the
mad charge was broken. thought we
were out of danger, but another lea
der forged ahead and bore down on
us. Rum" | sihrieked, and every
man made for safety, excepting Nick,
/ the coolest in the face OF danger
and always the last to run. The herd
bore down. / threw myself behind
a tree, just escaping being crushed
to death. A screech rose above the
/ thunder of the hoofs and the next
instance / saw Nick hoisted into the
i air with blood-stained tusk through
| his body. The Infatuated mass swept
past, leaving red marked trail.
Immediately set out on the spoor Of
the herd in hope of getting the body
of the shikaree Although / search
ed until shutdown | was unsuccess-
full
/ That night / heard the lions roar
ing down toward the river. The next
morning, with a few natives, / con-.
/ tinued the search, in the direction
that the lions roars came from dur
ing the night We soon sighted a
| flock Of vultures, a sure sign of dead
game, and, coming up with them, we
| found the chewed carcass of an elee-
plant and the scattered bones of a
human being, among which | found
Nick's hunting knife and belt The
wounded elephant had carried him
on its tusk till it fell exhausted
through loss of blood, and died. II
was one of the best ivory hauls I
ever made at one shooting and it was
the saddest. Nick was the great shi-
karee. He possessed every attribute
of manhood. He died like many a
hunter has died.
Nick was the twentieth native that
have lost on my various expeditions
1t was in iile same country that on a
previous expedition a rhinoceros in
vaded our camp and killed two native
porters, wounding three aud giving
iae close call.
his mental energy making devil for
! the animal kingdom he could not hav
created a more uncertain, malicious
and ugly brute than the rhinoceros.
This animal has buried more hunters
than all other big game combined. 1t
seems to be the hired assassin of
| the jungle. It's success as homicider
| is not due to the fact that it seeks
| its victim, but because its victim falls
over it. If the rhino knows that there
| is an enemy about, it will try to get
| AWAY without being seen. If, on
the other hand, it thinks that by
keeping still it will be passed I'M
noticed, it stays as silent and notion
| less as Gibraltar, it's little hog eyes
watching the direction of the noise
and it's nose shifting the air. Should
an enemy show up suddenly in the
jungle the rhino charges like a flash,
nose down and horns leveled like
| swords for the thrust, it's huge bulk
crushing through the brush like an
express train. 1t is always a fight to
the death, for a rhinoceros once in q
| fight wins or dies, and it mostly wins
il it is not confronted with an express
rifle in the hands of cool, good shot.
1t was the express in the hands Of
a. cool shot that saved me in the en-
counter related here.
We had been out nearly year and
were returning to civilization, such
as it is on the East African coast,
with a good stock of ivory. My part
ner, Jappie de Villiers, q well-knoWn
R0er hunter, had fever and was ex
nected to die at any moment. He
rad been carried three hundred miles
from the interior in a hammock. Ii
de Villeris had not been i'll would
not be alive today.
/ We were pitching camp at the Ka-
rega River on one of those inexpli-
cable barren patches that are scat
ltered like freckles over the face of
| the tropical forests The sun was set
ting and the sky blazed like the.
mouth Of foundry furnace. The
81, <,I1r, ~,f fl,a pnuy1xy Yr,odn 20 mn fires