It was my quiet intention to be that third one myself; but before I said so, Jack and Harry had each volunteered to look after our fair charges. Seeing that there might be some dispute on the subject, Mrs. Roberts suggested that they would take care of themselves, and all three of us might attack the game. This was a very sensible proposition, as it gave us an equal chance all around—that is, an equal chance at the rhinos, and no chance whatever for any of us to stay back and say sweet things to the ladies.
Sure enough, we found the game—about twenty rhinos of all sizes and ages. There was one cow with a calf, the calf a good-sized fellow, who ought to have been going around independently by himself. Some of the rhinos were black, and others white. The white rhinoceros is valuable for his horn, which is much superior to that of the black rhino, and his hide is also of a better quality. In fact, the black rhinoceros is of so little value that a great many hunters pass him by, and do not waste ammunition upon him. They shoot him occasionally in order to give the natives meat, or when they have the fever in their blood, and the feeling that they must kill something.
About half the animals in this herd were white, and so we went in pursuit of them. We each singled out our game, and rode up to it as closely as we could without being discovered. Then we dismounted, leaving the horses in the care of our after-rider, and stalked our way up to the game. The brute I had chosen was standing under a tree, and appeared very uneasy; he seemed to scent the danger in the air, but could not tell from what direction it was coming. I got up to within twenty yards of him, and gave him a shot behind the shoulder, which brought him to the ground. He was up and off in a moment; or rather, he was up, but went off only two or three steps till I finished him with another shot.
Harry and Jack were less successful than I, as they had a long chase, Harry losing his animal altogether; but Jack succeeded in capturing his game just as he was entering the edge of the forest. When Harry found he would lose his, he turned in pursuit of the cow and calf that I mentioned. He stalked up within fifty yards of the cow, when she suddenly perceived him. She turned and trotted straight toward him, her manner indicating that his room would be much preferable to his company, and that it was her intention to secure his immediate departure. He had views of his own on the subject, and so gave her a shot in the chest as she approached. The calf bore quite a resemblance to a good-sized hog; his ears were sharp and pointed, his skin was very smooth and fat, and it shone like a freshly polished boot.
When the shooting was over, and those of the herd that we had not brought down had disappeared in the distance, the ladies joined us to look at our game. We cut out the horns and the tongues of the animals, and Harry suggested to the ladies that we would present them with the young rhinoceros; in fact, he would have that honor, as the game belonged to him. To this we readily assented, and told the after-rider to get a half-dozen or so of the Kafirs to carry away the little brute—not so little, either, as he weighed pretty nearly three hundred pounds!
"Wait a moment," said Miss Boland; "before you send for the men to carry him, let us consider what we can do with him."
"Oh, make a pet of him, Miss Boland," said I; "a young rhinoceros is a delightful pet."
"If it's all the same to you," she replied, "I think a fox-terrier or a pug would be preferable. It looks not altogether unlike a pug; perhaps he is really a gigantic dog of the pug species—who knows?"
"I'm afraid his habits of life," I replied, "are not altogether puggish; and certainly the way his mother charged at Harry just as he was about to fire indicated anything but the disposition of that inoffensive member of the canine race. Perhaps, after all, he wouldn't make a good household pet, but would do as an ornament to the kraal."
"Possibly I can tame him and use him for saddle purposes," the young lady continued. "What do you say to that, Mrs. Roberts?"