her a fright and induced Brock to indulge in some lively exercise.
Separated by about a hundred yards or so, we were walking over the
undulating ground a short distance from the river, when, on gaining the
top of a gentle rise, I suddenly came upon the ungainly animal as it
lay wallowing in a hollow. It jumped to its feet instantly and came for
where I stood, and as I had no wish to shoot it, I made a dash for
cover round the knoll. On reaching the top of the rise, the rhino
winded my companion and at once changed its direction and made for him.
Brock lost no time in putting on his best pace in an endeavour to reach
the shelter of a tree which stood some distance off, while I sat down
and watched the exciting race. I thought it would be a pretty close
thing, but felt confident that Brock, who was very active, would manage
to pull it off. When he got about half-way to the tree, however, he
turned to see how far his pursuer was behind, and in doing so put his
foot in a hole in the ground, and to my horror fell head over heels,
his rifle flying from his grasp. I expected the great brute to be on
him in a moment, but to my intense relief the old rhino stopped dead
when he saw the catastrophe which had taken place, and then, failing (I
suppose) to understand it, suddenly made off in the opposite direction
as hard as he could go. In the meantime Brock had got to his feet
again, and raced for dear life to the tree without ever looking round.
It was a most comical sight, and I sat on the rise and for the second
time that day laughed till my sides ached.

After this we returned to the scene of my morning's adventure, where we
found that the invaluable Mahina had finished skinning the two lions.
We accordingly made our way back to camp with our trophies, all of us,
with perhaps the exception of Roshan Khan, well satisfied with the
day's outing. Whenever afterwards I wanted to chaff this "boy", I had
only to ask whether he would like to come and see some more shikar. He
would then look very solemn, shake his head emphatically and assure me
"Kabhi nahin, Sahib" ("Never again, Sir").

CHAPTER XXIII

A SUCCESSFUL LION HUNT

When the Athi river had been bridged, the section of the line to
Nairobi was pushed forward as rapidly as possible, and from dawn to
dark we all exerted ourselves to the very utmost. One day (May 28) the
weather was exceptionally hot, and I had been out in the broiling sun
ever since daylight superinte