第115章 CHAPTER XVI.(3)

Upon our arrival among them, they looked exceedingly sheepish, as they were caught in the act. Suspended most carefully upon one side of the camel, in a network of ropes, was a fine young rhinoceros which they had caught, having hunted the mother until she forsook the calf. Johann Schmidt had offered forty dollars for any young animal of this species, for the Italian menageries, therefore to the aggageers this was a prize of great value. I had hardly directed my attention to the calf, when I noticed a rope that was forcibly placed under the throat to support the heavy head, the weight of which bearing upon the cord was evidently producing strangulation. The tongue of the animal was protruding, and the tail stiffened and curled convulsively above the back, while a twitching of the hind legs, that presently stretched to their full extent, persuaded me that the rhinoceros was in his last gasp. As I looked intently at the animal, while my Tokrooris abused Abou Do for having deceived us, I told the aggageers that they had not gained much by their hunt, as the rhinoceros was dead. For a moment Abou Do smiled grimly, and, quite unconscious of the real fact, Suleiman replied, "It is worth forty dollars to us." "Forty dollars for a dead rhinoceros calf!" I exclaimed;"who is fool enough to give it?"

Abou Do glanced at the rhinoceros; his expression changed; he jumped from his horse, and, assisted by the other aggageers, he made the camel kneel as quickly as possible, and they hastened to unstrap the unfortunate little beast, which, upon being released and laid upon its side, convulsively stretched out its limbs, and lay a strangled rhinoceros. The aggageers gazed with dismay at their departed prize, and, with superstitious fear, they remounted their horses without uttering a word, and rode away;they attributed the sudden death of the animal to the effect of my "evil eye." We turned towards our camp. My Tokrooris were delighted, and I heard them talking and laughing together upon the subject, and remarking upon the extremely "bad eye" of their master.