midnight
As Wilkins said , `` nothing short of a lion , an elephant , a rhinoceros , or hippopotamus '' would satisfy them and that they had some chance of securing one or more of these formidable brutes was clear , because their voices had been several times heard , and their footprints had been seen everywhere . About an hour after resuming their walk , the major went off in hot pursuit of an enormous bee , which he saw humming round a bush . About the same time , Wilkins fell behind to examine one of the numerous plants that were constantly distracting his attention , so that our hero was left for a time to hunt alone with the natives . He was walking a considerable distance in advance of them when he came to a dense thicket which was black as midnight , and so still that the falling of a leaf might have been heard . Tom Brown surveyed the thicket quietly for a few seconds , and observing the marks of some large animal on the ground , he beckoned to the Caffre who carried his spare double-barrelled gun . Up to this date our hero had not shot any of the large denizens of the African wilderness , and now that he was suddenly called upon to face what he believed to be one of them , he acquitted himself in a way that might have been expected of a member of the Brown family ! He put off his shoes , cocked his piece , and entered the thicket alone -- the natives declining to enter along with him .