“He would need it,” said Mr Rogers gravely; and they rode on gently back to the camp.
There was fresh news here, for both the General and Coffee had to report that they had seen rhinoceros, and upon comparing notes, it was very evident that it could not be the same, unless the creature could have been in three places at once.
This was promising, for, in spite of the danger, they all wanted to number one of the great beasts in the list of the game they shot.
But during the next few days, with the exception of the daily shooting of an antelope for the larder, they saw no great game, even failing to put up the big rhinoceros when they rode over the same ground again.
They found the lair in amongst the thick bushes and dried grass, the dogs running through it from side to side, while the three hunters sat with presented pieces, ready to shoot at the first charge. They kept well apart too, so as to be ready to help the one at whom the rhinoceros came; but they saw nothing of the beast, and it was evident that it had shifted its quarters.
The weather had been intensely hot and dry, so that the long reedy grass crackled and rustled as they passed along, and in places the tramp of the horses’ hoofs sent the dust flying in clouds.
One evening towards sunset they were about ten miles from the camp, and wearied out with the heat and sultriness of the air which for days past had threatened a storm; they were riding listlessly across a wide plain that was being rapidly turned into a regular desert for want of refreshing rain.
Nobody had spoken for some time, when suddenly Jack exclaimed,—
“Look! the plain is on fire.”
The horses were reined in, and as they gazed in the direction pointed out, it was evident that there was what seemed to be a very large fire rolling across the plain; the white smoke-clouds rising quite high.