The Pools of Silence

down to the very sea edge, so the Congo has its surprises in strips of country th

rewn with rough grass and studded here and there with what a

e tale of his people and found one missing. One of the cook boys had dropped behind and vanished. He

s it?" asked Berselius

us, for a group of savages, if they have the same idea in common

they no

came the irreleva

have flogged the whole lot soundly, but he wanted them fresh for the morrow's work. Cutting down their rati

said B

and when his keen eye caught sight of something

saw, a great distance off, to judge by the diminishing size

in the level light; the twin horns back-curving and si

e out to feed." He made a sign to Félix who, knowing exactly what was wanted, div

ay like that for an hour sometimes. If we have any luck, we may g

Félix followin

ehind the shoulder-that's the spot for a rhino if you can reach it; for other animals aim at the neck, no matter what animal it is, or whether it is a lion or a buck; the ne

d Félix fr

horter; she was paler in colour, too, and showed up not nearly so well. Then she vanished into the thick stuff, but the bull remained

ind now; he can scarcely see twenty yards, he is still moving in the night of the ancient world, and the smell of a man excites the wildes

rhino when running away always runs in the direction from which the wind is blowing. You are in that direction, else your scent could not reach him; as your scent grows stronger and strong

brute when a faint puff of wind stirred the gras

dite rifle from Félix, who handed his gun also to Ad

rute was ill at ease; he went in a half-circle, and then, the wind increasing, and brin

s like the sound of a grea

ord," cried Berselius, "and a

oked down the sights. He knew that if he missed, the brute would charge t

s engine. An engine, moreover, that had the power of le

Berselius all the time was gl

ir

t, and the rhino, just as if he had been tripped by an invisible

said B

h the back of his hand. He had never gone t

, now stretched stiff and stark

aid Féli

at the report of the gu

ff, perform the same actions, the cow did exactly what the bull had done-ran abou

and he went forward tw

very starting of the expedition, shown little of his true character to his co

f the boy, expressed in a few quiet words, had sent them shivering to their places, cowed and dumb. Animal instinct seemed to tell them of

nicety and his power of self-restraint, and he knew that beyond the hundred-yard limit he dared not trust them; for no man born of woman who ha

s of solid flesh moving behind it would have been certain death; but the head was an instrument of destruction, devised when the meg

limit was passed, and then he hung on his aim so horribly that Adams felt the sweat-drops running on his face like ants, and even Félix swallo

idding with its own impetus, squealing, striking out and tearing up the grass, it came right up to Berselius's feet before stiffening in death. Like the great auto

arers, from the porters it came. There were no longer soldiers, or gun-bearers, or porters; every distinctio

with the murderous horns, whilst Berselius, with his gun butt resting on his boot, stood watching with a brooding eye as the porters and gun-bearers swarmed like ants around the slain animals and proceeded, under his direction, to cut them up. Then the meat was brought into camp.

e fact that in the middle of the meat distribution the missing boy limped into camp. He ha

new nothing of the incidents of the night. Berselius was also sleeping

ealing some of the meat left over fro

ad fed well, not being one of the pro

, and likely to break down and give

Then the body was flung into the forest where the ro