The Rhinoceros Hunt part 4/4
It was then half past
five. A bamboo trumpet sounded.
Like a startled daydreamer, the male rhino roared, then dashed to the west. Ignoring
the shouts of the people, it ran
on, plunging into the crowd. Then the
rhino bellowed again, calling for its child and wife. The three
ran in a line, the child in the middle, and they escaped through
a gap in the crowd.
The people were stunned. Many of them fell in their haste to run away. I lost
my head too. I ran and climbed one of the tall
trees, then hung on tightly and closed my eyes. The rhinos seemed
to be right below me, heaving deep breaths. I felt dizzy, lost my grip
on the tree and fell on
the rhino's back, it seemed.
I had fallen on
Lahiam, who had been crawling around at the foot of the tree. It had been Lahiam
panting a while ago, not the rhino. Lahiam winced and complained that his back hurt.
The others had been just as frightened as I had. Lahiam had been unable to stand up. I heard there were
even some who couldn't help
peeing in their pants. It was the
hunters who ran the fastest and were the
first to climb trees. There was a dignitary
from the town who was said to be
brave. But when he saw the rhinos approaching, he quickly flung his
rifle away and climbed the nearest tall
tree.
"The rifle, sir, the rifle!!" people
yelled to him. And what was his reply?
"You can take the rifle and use your eyes for bullets !"
The rhinos had vanished; we could no longer even hear them. Everyone climbed down from the trees and gathered together. With the rhinos a safe distance away, their courage reappeared and they told each other tall tales. Then we returned to the base camp. The viceroy felt very guilty, having blown the trumpet to stop the people from getting too close to the rhinos but having startled the rhinos instead. Thinking it impossible to pursue them, he dismissed the party right then. At about 9: 00 p.m. we set off for home. We arrived here just when the drum for the dawn meal was being beaten.
Bad luck! Having
taken all that trouble, we returned from .the hunt
empty-handed. All the way home, whenever
I saw something black
crouching by the side of
the road, my heart jumped. It
always seemed to be the rhinos.
"Maybe your
luck is as bad as mine, Suanta," I said. "How big was the male
rhino?"
Suanta replied:
"Oh, it was big, sir, bigger than a
buffalo. It was about ten feet long,
with a thick neck, a bald head, and a large snout. It had a crooked horn, sir, very frightening, but you couldn't see its eyes."
"And what were its
teeth like?" asked Momo.
"I don't know.
I couldn't see clearly, but if I haven't forgotten, its teeth were like a pig's, only much
bigger. Oh, it was really
terrible!"
"And how big was the
baby rhino?" I asked.
"Oh, small, sir, about the
size of a young buffalo. I've really had
enough of rhinos! If the master ever wants
to take me on a hunt again, I
won't join in as quickly as I did last time."
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