no A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



native hunters who will follow spoor far within 

 them. 



Our camp — where I had buried the ivory — was 

 situated at some considerable distance down the 

 valley, and about eight or ten miles from the 

 sinangas I have just mentioned. On the night we 

 reached Dett, whilst sleeping there, we heard ele- 

 phants drinking at a water hole not far up the valley, 

 and at the first dawn of day, after having a cup of 

 hot coffee, we went and took up the spoor. The 

 elephants, a fine troop of eight or ten bulls, had been 

 feeding quietly along all night, through the large 

 open grassy forests which border Dett, always 

 heading, however, towards the sinangas, where we 

 guessed they were bent upon standing during the 

 heat of the day. It was, however, not until a^i hour 

 or so past mid-day (as they had pursued a circuitous 

 course backwards and forwards) that our conjectures 

 were confirmed, and we entered the thick bush. 

 About an hour later, we came up with them, standing 

 some fifty yards away, on our right, under a clump 

 of camel-thorn trees, and in a rather open place 

 compared with the general density of the surrounding 

 jungle. Besides the small troop of bulls we had 

 followed, and which were nearest to us, there was a 

 very large herd of cows standing just beyond, which, 

 as we had not crossed their spoor, had probably 

 drunk at Sikumi — a water hole not many miles 

 distant — and come to this rendezvous from the 

 other side. 



Taking a hasty gulp of water, we at once walked 

 towards them. As we advanced, the slight rustling 

 of the bushes must have attracted the attention of 

 one of the bulls, for he raised his trunk high in the 

 air, and made a few steps forward. " I'll take him. 



