“And so did I,” replied Swinton; “and yet I ought to have known him better.  It was admirably done; here we have an instance of the superiority of man endowed with reasoning power over brutes.  A rhinoceros will destroy the elephant; the lion can make no impression on him, and flies before him like a cat.  He is, in fact, the most powerful of all animals; he fears no enemy, not even man, when he is provoked or wounded; and yet he has fallen by the cleverness of that little monkey of a Bushboy.  I think, Major, we have done enough now, and may go back to the caravan.”

“Yes, I am well satisfied with our day’s sport, and am not a little hungry.  We may now let the Hottentots bring home as much game as they can.  You have taken care to give directions about your specimens, Swinton?”

“Yes, Bremen knows the animals I require, and is now after them.  Omrah, run and tell that fellow to bring our horses here.”

“Swinton, can birds and beasts talk, or can they not?” said the Major.  “I ask that question because I am now looking at the enormous nests of the grosbeaks.  It is a regular town, with some hundreds of houses.  These birds, as well as those sagacious animals, the beaver, the ant, and the bee, not to mention a variety of others, must have some way of communicating their ideas.”

“That there is no doubt of,” replied Swinton, laughing; “but still I believe that man only is endowed with speech.”

“Well, we know that; but if not with speech, they must have some means of communication which answers as well”

“As far as their wants require it, no doubt,” replied Swinton, “but to what extent is hidden from us.  Animals have instinct and reasoning powers, but not reason.”

“Where is the difference?”

“The reasoning powers are generally limited to their necessities; but with animals who are the companions of man, they appear to be more extended.”

“We have a grand supper to-night,” said Alexander; “what shall I help you to—­harte-beest, sassaby, or rhinoceros?”

“Thank you,” replied the Major, laughing; “I’ll trouble you for a small piece of that rhinoceros steak—­underdone, if you please.”

“How curious that would sound in Grosvenor Square.”

“Not if you shot the animals in Richmond Park,” said Swinton.

“Those rascally Hottentots will collect no fuel to-night if we do not make them do it now,” said the Major.  “If they once begin to stuff it will be all over with them.”

“Very true; we had better set them about it before the feast begins.  Call Bremen, Omrah.”

“Having given their directions, our party finished their supper, and then Alexander asked Swinton whether he had ever known any serious accidents resulting from the hunting of the rhinoceros.

“Yes,” replied Swinton; “I once was witness to the death of a native chief.”

“Then pray tell us the story,” said the Major.  “By hearing how other people have suffered, we learn how to take care of ourselves.”