XI "BALECKA, SOREE ! " 207 



probably turned out in the jungle behind. Thinking 

 they had all passed, I now ran out into the opening, 

 shouting with concentrated intensity, in company 

 with my Bushman, " Leta imbopo ! " (Bring the gun), 

 when another young bull, with long thin white tusks, 

 emerged from the bush behind, and, catching sight 

 of us, at once charged, trumpeting shrilly. " Balecka, 

 soree ! " (Run away, sir), shouted the Bushman, 

 and we made a dive back into the bush, each 

 successive scream making me, at any rate, spring 

 forward with wonderful energy. Our pursuer did 

 not come far beyond the edge of the bush, but 

 turned and went after his companions. 



My two gun-carriers now came up, and, running 

 on the spoor, we presently sighted the elephants again, 

 going at a quick walk through the jungle. I told 

 Hartebeest to try and run round and head them 

 towards me, hoping to get a good broadside shot as 

 they passed ; but before he managed to do so, I myself 

 got pretty well up on the near side, and gave two bulls 

 each a good shot behind the shoulder. Had the 

 country been tolerably open, I should probably have 

 bagged them both, as, being close, I felt sure the bullets 

 went somewhere near the right place ; but in such 

 dense bush as" was this, it was impossible to do much, 

 for an elephant bull, even when shot clean through the 

 heart, does not fall at once, but will often run several 

 hundred yards first. And neither do they always bleed 

 externally, so that there is no guide as to which spoor 

 one ought to take. 



At the shots there was a roar and a rushing and a 

 crashing, a cloud of dust was raised, and everything 

 had disappeared. I was just preparing to try and take 

 up the spoor ot the wounded animals, when loud shouts 

 ahead announced to me that the herd had run on to 



