Presently he made off. I followed, but found it hard to come up
with him. When I overtook him I found the blood running freely from
his wound.
The chase led through a large herd of blue wildebeests, zebras, and
springboks, which gazed at us in utter amazement. At length I fired my
second barrel, but my horse was fidgety, and I missed. I continued
riding alongside of him, expecting in my ignorance that at length he
would come to bay, which rhinoceroses never do; when suddenly he fell
flat on his broadside on the ground, but, recovering his feet, resumed
his course as if nothing had happened. Becoming at last annoyed at the
length of the chase, as I wished to keep my horses fresh for the
elephants, and being indifferent whether I got the rhinoceros or not,
as I observed that his horn was completely worn down by age, and the
violence of his disposition, I determined to bring matters to a
crisis; so, spurring my horse, I dashed ahead, and rode right in his
path.
Upon this the hideous monster instantly charged me in the most
resolute manner, blowing loudly through his nostrils; and although I
quickly wheeled about to my left, he followed me at such a furious
pace for several hundred yards, with his horrid horny snout within a
few yards of my horse's tail, that my little Bushman, who was looking
on in great alarm, thought his master's destruction inevitable.
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