upon the margin of the river where I had first shot the bull elephant
when the aggageers fought with him upon foot. I resolved to fire the
entire country on the following day, and to push still farther up the
course of the Settite to the foot of the mountains, and to return to
this camp in about a fortnight, by which time the animals that had been
scared away by the fire would have returned. Accordingly, on the
following morning, accompanied by a few of the aggageers, I started upon
the south bank of the river, and rode for some distance into the
interior, to the ground that was entirely covered with high withered
grass. We were passing through a mass of kittar and thorn-bush, almost
hidden by the immensely high grass, when, as I was ahead of the party, I
came suddenly upon the tracks of rhinoceroses. These were so
unmistakably recent that I felt sure we were not far from the animals
themselves. As I had wished to fire the grass, I was accompanied by my
Tokrooris and my horse-keeper, Mahomet No. 2. It was difficult ground
for the men, and still more unfavorable for the horses, as large
disjointed masses of stone were concealed in the high grass.

We were just speculating as to the position of the rhinoceros, and
thinking how uncommonly unpleasant it would be should he obtain our
wind, when whiff! whiff! whiff! We heard the sharp whistling snort, with
a tremendous rush through the high grass and thorns close to us, and at
the same moment two of these determined brutes were upon us in full
charge. I never saw such a scrimmage. SAUVE QUI PEUT! There was no time
for more than one look behind. I dug the spurs into Aggahr's flanks, and
clasping him round the neck I ducked my head down to his shoulder, well
protected with my strong hunting-cap, and kept the spurs going as hard
as I could ply them, blindly trusting to Providence and my good horse.
Over big rocks, fallen trees, thick kittar thorns, and grass ten feet
high, with the two infernal animals in full chase only a few feet behind