2o6 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



was enough ; they did not stop to ask questions, but 

 wheeled round towards the bush with marvellous 

 despatch. Though I stood fast, and raised my gun 

 the instant I saw the trunk of the big bull turned up, 

 he was round before I could fire. I managed to put 

 a bullet in just behind his ribs, which made him roar 

 and sit back on his haunches ; before he could recover 

 I seized my second gun from Hellhound, anci gave 

 him another bullet in the hip, on which he jerked 

 himself up, and rushed into the bush atter the rest. 



Calling to my two gun-carriers to load and follow, 

 I ran on with Hartebeest (the best runner among 

 my Bushmen) after them. They had cleared a broad 

 path before them, and raised such a dust in the loose 

 sand that it was impossible to see anything. How- 

 ever, I trusted to the sagacity of my Bushman (a 

 better servant in the hunting veldt I never saw), 

 and, keeping his dusky form in view, dived through 

 the thorny jungle close behind him. Suddenly he 

 halted, and, looking forwards, I caught sight of the 

 tops of the elephants' ears above the bush. They 

 had come to the water's edge, and stood turning and 

 looking about in all directions. My gun-carriers 

 were nowhere in sight, and I did not dare call out, 

 as the elephants would then have run on again, so I 

 waited ; they, however, did not stand many seconds, 

 but stepped out in single file across the open place 

 to their right, swinging their trunks backwards and 

 forwards. It was a bitter moment ; eight of them 

 had passed broadside to me at not more than thirty 

 yards' distance, and I was without a gun and dared not 

 call. There were four old bulls, the rest being not 

 quite full-grown. The tusks of all the old ones were 

 rather short, but looked thick and heavy. The one I 

 had first wounded was not amongst them, and had 



