Hunting in Many Lands 



the next water place. Any hesitation on my 

 part would have been the signal for a general 

 retreat, so there was nothing for it but to as- 

 sume a look of the utmost indifference, and to 

 assure them calmly that we should find water. 

 At noon the appearance of the country had 

 not changed. My men, who had incautiously 

 neglected to fill their water bottles in the 

 morning, were beginning to show signs of 

 distress. 



Suddenly my gun-bearer, pointing to the 

 left, showed me two herds of elephants ap- 

 proaching us. The larger herd, composed 

 principally of bulls, was nearer to us, and 

 probably got our wind ; for they at once 

 turned sharply to their right and increased 

 their pace. The other herd moved on un- 

 disturbed. I halted the caravan, told the men 

 to sit down and went forward to meet the ele- 

 phants, with my servant and two gun-bearers. 

 I carried a .577, my servant carried the old 

 i2-bore by Lang, his cartridges crammed to 

 the muzzle with powder. We were careful 

 to avoid giving the elephants our wind, so we 

 advanced parallel to them, but in a direction 

 opposite to that in which they were going. As 

 they passed us we crouched, and they seemed 



50 



