The Yale expositor., 1913-10-16

n WERE and there on the grassy
n uplands, or hidden in the
wooded hollows OF British
N H East Africa. lives the rhluo
ceros, Stunned by ell other
game, huge, morose and solitary
misunderstanding, perohance Inisun
derstood bold without knowledge,
brave without discretion, one cannot
but feel, after some acquaintance with
the beast, that Nature has been hard
on him, that a little more considera
ton a little more sympathy, and the
"rhno" would have no cause to la.
ment a diminishing population and In
adequate birth-rate. But Nature, as
her habit is, has not gone out OF her
way to be kind; she has made no use
OF the material latent in the vast
body; Evolution at her dictation has
held his hand and the rhine remains
the stereotyped relic Of a bygone age,
when still stranger creatures browseo
along the waters Of tropic Thames,
when the mighty SUBMITS Of Kiliman
jaro and of Kenia were not conceived
OF a time when the sole condition to
survival was impermeability. And i'm
permeability he achieved in those long
past days, achieved it with an abso-
Lutte success. achieved it so that no
scheming tricks, no carefully-thought
plan was necessary so that he might
! obtain food and water and the van
gushing OF his enemies; he was i'm
permeable TO tooth and claw. He was
! impermeabie, and they of the tooth
and claw knew il. He was absolutely
| safe. and in that safety the brain stag.
mated, and Evolution stood back and
waited while the rhine encompassed
his death warrant.
Like Black Ridge.
You see him afar Off massive and
aggressive, storming through the grass
| like a great battleship through the
ripple of a summers sea; you watch
! him fidgeting from side to side In
some chosen spot, long since worn
saucer-like with the scraping feet, or
are suddenly aware Of his huge bulk
appraised. Ride across the plain, your
"safari," a long black line of porters,
! the team of oxen, a notified patch on
| the hillside far behind, and you may
see, a few hundred yards away, a
black ridge of somewhat unfamiliar
aspect, or, more probably, be aroused
from the semi-somnolence born of
monotony by cries of Faro" from
your men. That rather long black
ridge, like and yet not quite like an
ant-hill, surmounted by row of birds
that is your "rhino." There he lies.
sleeping through the long hot hours.
solitary beast in the open plain of
dry golden grass Unknown to your
self, you have crossed the wind of the
sleeper, and the faintly-caught smell,
unfamiliar and pregnant with alarm,
brings him to his feet to stand alert.
each move of the massive body and
appraised head eloquent of disgust and
resentment. He has you; 500 odd
yards away. yet he has you. The un-
wieldly parallelogram of flesh, which
gave you your chance for a comfort
able shot. zigzags in rapid spasmodic
runs to and fro. across the plain, ever
working up-wind, running now to this
hand. now TO that, and, as the scent
strengthens with every tack, nearing
you rapidly, looking less unwieldy,
more agile at each advance. Now,
now he has you with a vengeance.
Straight at you he comes, galloping
like a gigantic pig, and-yOu sigh too
late for your comfortable shot. Or.
perchance, his sole asset, his nose,
proves unequal TO the task Of locat-
ing the seat OF the disturbance, and
forthwith anger surges within his vast
frame. You stand and watch, not, it
must be confessed, IL you are new to
TO the manners of the "rhino," with.
out some tinge OF anxiety.
His Chase unavaillne.
But this time there is to be no
charge and no hasty firing Of shots in
the hope OF turning, or Of killing. the
enemy. He sees an ostrich, and the
sight OF the bird serves as a vent for
his illconsidered spleen. on he goes
in chase, full tilt, for half mile or
more, the biped complacently trotting
on before (can II be that an ostrich
has a sense Of humorO, merely glanc.
ing over his wing now and again, care.
fully keeping distance. Soon IL dawns
on him that the thing in front he dim
ly sees has not that faintly-caught but
evil smell; this idle chase grows wear.