The Rhinoceros Hunt part 3/4
Early in the morning
of the third day people came from a
nearby plantation and reported that some rhinos had come into their village the night before. Trackers were sent to have a look and they came back saying the animals had gone from the village into the forest near our ambush.
Beaters surrounded
this part of the forest, and trackers kept on the move to make sure the animals had not slipped out
of the forest. Everyone felt sure that
the rhinos were inside the circle of beaters.
The hunters who had picked the ambush
spot were highly praised for having
chosen so well.
Everyone waited anxiously.
Fires were lit on the south and east sides of the forest.
There was a strong wind and the fire blazed high, sending smoke up
into the sky. To the west there
was shouting, and the drums kept beating
loudly. The fire spread quickly, its flames
licking out in all directions, thundering and roaring and blackening the sky. When
the fire from the east joined that
from the south, the smoke
billowed still higher. The circle
of beaters kept growing smaller, and presently the sound of loud rifle
are was heard over the shouting and the drums.
It was terribly frightening: sitting on a branch with your heart
thumping, trying to keep as still as
possible. I got down and joined
the shouting crowd.
We could hear the
rhinos coming from the burning
forest.
A crowd of people
came shouting toward the dry field, overgrown with weeds and small
trees. There were only a few tall trees. The rhinos suddenly appeared
from the cast, looking like huge, rolling boulders.
People were shouting: "Rhino ! Rhino !" The drums grew louder.
The rhinos kept on walking
to the west. There were three of them: a male, a female, and one offspring. When they saw people surrounding them,
they turned back toward the east and stopped again when they reached
the edge of the forest. They
seemed to be afraid of the fire, and the
smoke was suffocating; so they turned back
to the west but were blocked by
the people. In the end, looking bewildered, the rhinos stood in the middle of the dry field. There was no doubt that the
biggest one was a male. It
bellowed, its mouth wide open.
God ! I can still remember the terrible redness of its mouth and its dreadful teeth.
The dignitaries
shouted orders, telling the people
to move closer. Flames and smoke billowed in a tall black wall. The weeds
were burnt to a crisp. The rhinos were already
troubled, sensing that they were
in danger. The only way out was to the north. But strangely they did not want to run that way. It was as if they had
sensed our presence. They .seemed to be
thinking, gazing toward the southwest horizon.
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