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Following along its margin, I presently beheld a bull of the borele, or black rhinoceros, standing within a hundred yards of me. Dismounting from my horse, I secured him to a tree, and then stalked within twenty yards of the huge beast under cover of a large strong bush. Borele, hearing me advance, came on to see what it was, and suddenly protruded his horny nose within a few yards of me.
The three that had fallen were fine old cows, and two of them were partly consumed by the lions. The ground all around was packed flat with their spoor; one particular spoor was nearly as large as that of a borele. I then proceeded to inspect the steeds: the sand around them was also covered with the lion's spoor.
It was struggling on the ground, and by its side was an ox that the borele had capsized in his first impetuous onset. The second of the giraffes was fleeing over the plain, and had already gone farther from the camp than any of the other animals. It seemed not only inspired by fear, but a renewed love of liberty.
"Do you remember the night you were under the baobab-tree, dodging the borele?" asked Hendrik. "Say no more," answered Arend. "If you wish it I am willing to go on." Swartboy was sent back to the camp to join Hans, while the Kaffir and Spoor'em led the way. Under the direction of Hendrik they soon came to the place where Willem had been last seen. There were no signs of him anywhere.
As the ox, whose struggles were nearly breaking its neck, had been gored by the borele and severely wounded, he saw it would be no use letting him live any longer, and without more ado he received his quietus from Hendrik's rifle. The giraffe was now released, and restored to its proper fastenings. By this time the others had caught up with most of the horses and cattle.
The borele soon selected an object for his pursuit, which was one of the pack-horses, and then charged right after him. Meanwhile Willem and Hendrik hastened on to the camp, where they were joined by two of the Makololo. All the others had gone off after the cattle and horses.
As he had very little trouble in avoiding it, there was plenty of opportunity for reflection; and he passed the time in devising some plan to settle the misunderstanding between the borele and himself. The first he thought of was to make use of his rifle.
Having proceeded about two miles with large herds of game on every side, I observed a crusty-looking, old bull borèlé, or black rhinoceros, cocking his ears one hundred yards in advance. He had not observed us; and soon after he walked slowly toward us, and stood broadside to, eating some wait-a-bit thorns within fifty yards of me.
None of them, except the one selected for especial pursuit by the borele, had gone far, but, turning when out of danger, were easily caught. This was not the case with the camelopard that had got loose and fled among the foremost. Its flight had been continued until it was no longer seen!
The hunter had now time to recover his breath, and, to some extent, his confidence. He saw that the fallen tree would protect him. Even should the rhinoceros come round to the other side, he would only have to roll back again to place himself beyond the reach of its terrible horn. The space below was ample enough to enable him to pass through, but too small for the body of a borele.
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