-»> Elephant-Hunting 



It turned out that a small herd to which this elephant 

 belonged had come down U) the; now sodden velt, and 

 having got wind of my i)eoi)]e had come upon the 

 advanced guard of the long-drawn-out caravan. Thus 

 it happened that hv a most curious chance I came upon 

 the bull in a spot where I should never have expected 

 to tind an elephant at that time ot year. 



Less perilous ])erha[)S, yet iull of excitement in its 

 own wav, was a hLmt in the course ot which I came upon 

 a herd in a thicket in a ravine on the side of the Ngaptu 

 Mountain. I had been going after elephants tor weeks on 

 the north side of the mount.iin Iruitlessly. One day I had 

 been unable to resist the temptation ot shooting a rare 

 kind of thrush [l^nrdiis iiecksiii) on the top of the 

 mountain. The noise ot my shot resounding through the 

 ravine was answered almost at once by the loud trumpeting 

 of an elephant 



On another day I was making a nine-hours' march 

 round one part of the mountain, and although I was 

 sutlering at the time rather badly trom dysentery, I pressed 

 forward to the place which, as I had tound out accidentally, 

 the elephants trequented. I thought it very doubtful 

 whether they were still to be tound there, but nowadays 

 one must lose no chance ot any kind ot getting at 

 elephants in those regions, even when journeys ot days 

 are entailed. A more or less steady wind enabled me 

 to approach the herd, and at last I tound myself only 

 a few paces away from two fairly large bulls. They 

 were standing, however, in such an unfavourable position 

 that 1 could not make up my mind to shoot. After 



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