ELEPHAXT inWTIXa 



53 



The following day I went into the forest again and soon came up with a 

 herd, but in cover so dense that an inspection could not be made. We 

 worked with them for hours and finally succeeded in driving them out into 

 the open, but unfortunately the grass was high and I had not succeeded in 

 gaining a point of vantage, when with angry grunts they doubled back to 

 the forest. As I turned to follow, my attention was called to a commotion 

 in the bush at the edge of the forest some four hundrefl yards to the left. 

 Another herd was coming out into the grasslands and from the top of an ant 

 hill I saw them distinctly as they passed over a rise fifty yards away. 

 There were eleven cows. I waited a few moments thinking that as often 

 happens, a bull might follow in their wake. The cows had passed on to a 

 distance of three or four hundred yards and I was about to leave the ant hill 

 and return to camp, when from the direction of the cows there came a low, 

 ominous rumble like distant thunfler. It was not very unlike the angry 

 rumbling sounds we had so frequently heard when with elephants, but it was 

 plain talk and meant trouble. A hasty glance around convinced us that 

 there was but one thing to do, to stand and meet the charge from the eleva- 

 tion where we were and from which we could see. If we tried to escape to 

 one side or to the forest, we could not see them over the high giass before 

 they were upon us. The rumbling was repeated two or three times, increas- 

 ing in volume, and was then followed by the wild shriek of one angry cow 

 and immediately taken up by ten others as they charged toward us. The\' 

 came halfway and stopped for a moment. They had lost the wind, but 

 immediately caught it again and roaring and screaming with r(>doublcfl 

 energy, came into view over 

 a slight rise. It was a dis- 

 concerting spectacle. Their 

 great ears at full spread, 

 trunks thrashing wildly, a 

 roaring, screaming mass, 

 forty tons of frantic female 

 elephant vengeance. I re- 

 member that I felt homesick. 



Were they to continue in 

 a straight course they would 

 pass at forty yards; then a 

 dash on our part to one side 

 and we could lose them and 

 be safe. When they were 

 nearly opposite us however, 

 they either saw or winded us 

 afresh and wheeled straight 

 in, with a burst of shrieks. 

 A shot from the big cordite 



Copyriijld by Carl E. Akeley 



\ forest bed where a young elephant was born 

 ami cared for during the first week or ton days of 

 its life. This was found by the expedition wliile 

 traveling by compass on Moiuit Kenia, well away 

 from all trails 



