A few days afterwards Haroun disappeared. The sentries on guard day and night at the barricade declared that the Arab had not passed them. The nullah was searched; no trace of him could be found. Some of the people reported that, after the whipping, he had sulkily held himself aloof, and used to wander alone by the shore of the lake. At length it was generally believed that he had fallen victim to a crocodile, and his fate was a fruitful topic of conversation among the Wahehe. One day, accompanied by Mwesa and some two-score beaters and carriers, Tom set off to shoot. The rains had just begun, and Mirambo had told him that with the filling and overflowing of the streams animals would certainly be found on the swamps thus created. He had usually gone either north or east, as being least likely to encounter enemies in those directions. On this occasion, however, he struck to the west, in order to reach low-lying ground where, according to M’setu’s huntsmen, at this season of the year game was plentiful. A couple of hours’ march through the forest brought him to an extensive hollow, covered only with scrub and tall grass, and already showing signs of becoming the impassable swamp which would result from a few weeks’ rain. The beaters, marching quietly ahead, soon made signs that they had sighted game, and presently, through the grass, Tom saw the long dark form of a rhinoceros placidly browsing. Stealing round to leeward, he gradually approached the animal until he was within easy range, fired, and had the satisfaction of seeing his quarry fall at the first shot. The report of his rifle had startled another beast that was wallowing in a pool near by. It rose, sniffed around, then made off with lumbering but rapid gait across the hollow towards a belt of woodland on higher ground. Tom hurried in pursuit with his beaters, leaving Mwesa to guard the animal he had already shot. The chase was a long one. The rhinoceros, before it recovered from its alarm, plunged through a long stretch of forest and scrub, and was found at last resting in a narrow glade bordered on the further side by tall bushes. Again Tom brought down the beast, this time at his second shot. The natives, with cries of delight, were rushing forward to skin and dismember it for transport when, without warning, there came from the bushes beyond the sharp crack of several rifles, bullets sang through the air, and two of the beaters fell. The rest bolted into the bush on either side, and Tom, a little less precipitately, was about to follow them when he saw a number of German askaris emerge from cover opposite, with Reinecke at their head.