By This Arrangement We Were Sure Of Our Breakfast Wherever We
Went, And We Were Free From The Noise Of Our Followers, Whose Scent
Alone Was Enough To Alarm Miles Of Country Down Wind.
We had our guns
all loaded, and carried by our respective gun-bearers close to the
horses, and, with Banda, old Medima, and a couple of trackers, we were
ready for anything.
We had ridden about six miles when we suddenly came upon fresh
elephant-tracks in a grassy hollow, surrounded by low rocky hills. We
immediately sent the men off upon the tracks, while we waited upon a
high plateau of rock for their return. They came back in about a quarter
of an hour, having found the elephants within half a mile.
They were in high lemon grass, and upon arrival at the spot we could
distinguish nothing, as the grass rose some feet above our heads. It was
like shooting in the dark, and we ascended some rising ground to improve
our position. Upon arrival on this spot we looked over an undulating sea
of this grass, interspersed with rocky hills and small patches of
forest. Across a valley we now distinguished the herd, much scattered,
going off in all directions. They had winded us, and left us but a poor
chance of catching them in such ground. Of course we lost no time in
giving chase. The sun was intensely hot--not a breath of air was
stirring, and the heat in the close, parched grass was overpowering.
With the length of start that the elephants had got, we were obliged to
follow at our best pace, which, over such tangled ground, was very
fatiguing; fortunately, however, the elephants had not yet seen us, and
they had accordingly halted now and then, instead of going straight off.
There were only four elephants together, and, by a great chance we came
up with them just as they were entering a jungle. I got a shot at the
last elephant and killed him, but the others put on more steam, and all
separated, fairly beating us, as we were almost used up by the heat.
This was very bad luck, and we returned in despair of finding the
scattered herd. We had proceeded some distance through the high grass,
having just descended a steep, rocky hill, when we suddenly observed two
elephants approaching along the side of the very hill that we had just
left. Had we remained in the centre of the hill, we should have met them
as they advanced. One was a large female, and the other was most
probably her calf, being little more than half-grown.
It was a beautiful sight to see the caution with which they advanced,
and we lay down to watch them without being seen. They were about 200
yards from us, and, as they slowly advanced along the steep hillside,
they occasionally halted, and, with their trunks thrown up in the air,
they endeavoured, but in vain, to discover the enemy that had so
recently disturbed them.
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