IV FINE RHINOCEROS SHOT S3 



in the shade of some large trees — Kafirs and all — 

 and slept till late in the afternoon. Towards evening 

 we were returning to camp, when coming to a little 

 hill we climbed up it to get a view of the sur- 

 rounding country. We had not yet reached the top 

 when one of the Kafirs said suddenly, " Look at the 

 elephants," or words to that effect. Turning my 

 eyes to where he pointed, I saw at once a string of 

 elephants walking quickly along in single file, not 

 more than a quarter of a mile off. As soon as Cigar 

 saw the direction in which they were going he called 

 out, " Come on, come on cjuickly, they'll smell our 

 spoor and run." We soon clambered down the little 

 hill and ran to intercept them. We were just in 

 time, tor as the foremost elephant, a huge cow, came 

 upon our track we emerged from the bush not two 

 hundred yards away. The keen-scented brute did 

 not cross our spoor, but stopped dead the instant 

 her outstretched trunk had caught the taint left by 

 our footsteps. In this position she stood for a few 

 seconds, moving 'the tip of her trunk about close to 

 the ground, and then, wheeling round, made off at a 

 run, followed by all the rest. From this incident, 

 which I myself witnessed, some idea may be formed 

 of the keenness of scent possessed by the African 

 elephant. Out of the herd I managed to kill two, 

 the second one after a very hard run, and Cigar 

 disposed of three more. It was then dark, so we 

 made a large fire and slept where we were, without 

 blankets, alongside one of the carcases. The follow- 

 ing Monday we started for the waggons, which we 

 reached on the third day, taking as much ivory with 

 us as the Kafirs could carry, and leaving the rest 

 buried. On our way we shot a white rhinoceros 

 cow with a fine long horn measuring 3 feet 7 inches. 



