So they all took out their arrowroot cakes and ate till they were satisfied.
Then Mkaaah Jeechonee said, “Each of you take two guns; lay one beside you and take the other in your hands, and at the proper time let us all fire at once.”
And they said, “All right, master.”
So they crept cautiously through the bushes and got around to the other side of the tree, at the back of the rhinoceros; then they closed up till they were quite near it, and all fired together. The beast jumped up, ran a little way, and then fell down dead.
They bound it, and dragged it for two whole days, until they reached the town, when Mkaaah Jeechonee began singing,
“Oh, mother, I have killed
The noondah, eater of the people.”
But he received the same answer from his mother: “My son, this is not the noondah, eater of the people.”
And many persons came and looked at the rhinoceros, and felt very sorry for the young man. As for his father and mother, they both begged of him to give up, his father offering to give him anything he possessed if he would only stay at home. But he said, “I don’t hear what you are saying; good-bye,” and was off again.
This time he still further increased the distance from his home, and at last he saw an elephant asleep at noon in the forest. Thereupon he said to his attendants, “Now we have found the noondah.”