332 
she had regained her self-control and 
was determined to go on. 
The last move of the herd had put us 
in danger of being betrayed by the wind 
again, which made it necessary to act 
quickly. We worked around to head 
them off where they had come to a stand 
in a thick bit of wood whose outer edge 
was a dense impenetrable mass of green- 
ery. This screen effectively concealed 
us as we cautiously threaded our way 
along an overgrown trail, using the ut- 
most precaution to avoid the cracking 
of twigs or scraping of harsh leaves 
against our clothing. We were very 
close to the elephants and the slightest 
sound might be detected by their keenly 
They 
quiet, except for the occasional rumble 
of a stomach, which indicated peace and 
sensitive ears. were perfectly 
unconcern on their part. It was jumpy 
work, creeping along at a snail’s pace, 
where the slightest misstep might cause 
the stampede of a herd of elephants, 
who would be quite as likely to come 
our way as any other. The screen 
impenetrable to us would be no barrier 
to their huge bulk. At last we came toa 
more open path beneath the larger trees 
that sheltered them, and as we worked 
carefully along, we could see here and 
there, patches of rough barklike skin. 
A youngster about four feet high was 
to be seen toddling about on an inde- 
pendent excursion, amongst the legs of 
his elders. 
Now that we had succeeded in placing 
ourselves among them, our work was cut 
out. We were to get a cow if possible. 
Before shooting we must make certain 
that the specimen chosen was a cow; 
moreover that it was a good one, such as 
would properly represent the species; 
not an easy task in such dense cover. 
As we stalked stealthily along the line 
we received a number of thrills. A bull 
whose suspicions were aroused, stood 
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
head on with his great ears thrown 
forward, listening, his trunk thrown 
forward and up “feeling for wind.” 
Another old fellow walked out to the 
path on which we stood, only a few yards 
away, deliberated a few moments, and 
to our great relief decided to go down 
the path, away from us. At such times 
we dared not stir, for elephants are quick 
to detect moving objects. 
We followed down the path, in the 
wake of the bull who was moving away,. 
in search of the coveted cow, but we had 
gone but a short distance when we were 
stopped by one of the gun-bearers who. 
declared in sign language, that we had 
passed an elephant with ivory as large 
as a man’s thigh. We retraced our 
steps somewhat reluctantly to the place 
from where we could see the elephant 
which had previously shown signs of 
suspicion, and there, just behind and 
towering high above him stood a lordly 
fellow who until now had escaped our 
notice. We got a glimpse of the upper 
part of one tusk and it seemed very large 
in diameter; but that was not enough, 
we must determine its length, and if it 
Much of the largest ivory 
After a time, 
by dint of stooping low and peering be- 
neath the bushes, we saw as the elephant 
stepped forward a pace, the tip of a 
tusk within fifteen inches of the ground. 
From that lofty head to within fifteen 
inches of the ground certainly meant 
a big tusk — good enough even though 
it had no mate. This decision was 
scarcely reached when a turn of his head 
revealed to us the tip of its mate, of the 
same length. 
Excitement ran high. It was the big 
pair that we had often seen in our “ pipe 
Bibi prepared to take the 
shot, with the understanding that when 
she had fired we would run down the 
path to the protection of a clump of 
had a mate. 
is that of single tuskers. 
dreams.”’ 
