Part 11 (2/2)
THINGS TO DO
_Choose somebody to be Bodo and somebody to be One-Ear, and let them show how the boys found the calf._ _Model a calf in clay._
XXI.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
Why were all of the animals afraid of the rhinoceros?
How could the little hyenas hunt the big-nosed rhinoceros?
What could the Tree-dwellers learn by watching the wild animals hunt?
_How the Hyenas Hunted_
One day Bodo and One-Ear climbed a fir tree near the edge of a cliff.
They were watching a big-nosed rhinoceros.
It had just rooted up an oak tree with its twin-tusked snout.
Now it was tearing the trunk into strips as we tear a stalk of celery.
The boys watched it grinding the wood with its great teeth.
[Ill.u.s.tration: _The big-nosed rhinoceros_]
They were glad that they were safe in the fir tree.
They watched the creature in silence.
Suddenly Bodo gave One-Ear a nudge.
One-Ear looked up.
Bodo put his finger on his lips, then pointed toward the underbrush.
One-Ear stared with open mouth.
A whole pack of hyenas was on the cliff.
They were sneaking along toward the rhinoceros.
What hungry-looking creatures they were!
How their eyes gleamed!
The boys wondered what the hyenas would do.
They watched to see.
The big-nosed rhinoceros went stupidly browsing along the edge of the cliff.
He did not see the hyenas.
The hyenas had learned that the rhinoceros could not see far away, and now they were taking advantage of this.
They were too cowardly to risk a fair fight.
Even the mammoth and sabre-tooth did not like to encounter the big-nosed rhinoceros.
Even they could not pierce his thick, heavy skin.
Even they feared his twin-tusked snout.
The hyenas crept softly from bush to bush.
They kept their eyes fastened upon the rhinoceros.
As he stepped on the very edge of the cliff they sprang out and began to growl.
The rhinoceros turned fiercely upon them.
He tossed one of the hyenas over the cliff.
As he did this he lost his footing.
The huge creature stumbled and fell.
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