Lake Victoria to Khartoum 



three o'clock in the afternoon. Judging by the 

 sun-dried edges of the tracks we were not gaining 

 on the elephants, so it was evident that they had 

 got the funks on board and meant going. I 

 thought the matter over : one elephant in a day 

 wasn't so dusty ; we were not far from camp ; 

 those we were pursuing would feed that evening 

 and probably not go very much further, as they 

 hadn't seen a man ; it was getting late ; I was 

 tired. So home was the order of the day, but 

 to-morrow offered great possibilities. 



To-morrow is not the worst word in the English 

 language. It is synonymous with expectancy, 

 and, according to the old proverb, expectation is 

 better than realization when all is said and done. 

 The great thing is that to-morrow is always in 

 front of one, whilst yesterday is past and gone 

 with its mistakes, or its joys, or its sorrows ; but 

 who can tell what to-morrow may bring forth ? 



Round the camp fire that evening we were all 

 as happy as kings, measuring, weighing, and 

 cleaning the tusks, the orderlies cracking jokes 

 with the outside savages who were having their 

 " tummies " filled with good food, and imbibing 

 large quantities of " mevissa " or native beer that 

 had opportunely appeared from nowhere in par- 

 ticular. My cook had surpassed himself in 

 honour of the occasion ; and talk about good will 

 towards men, Christmas wasn't in it with my 



camp that night ! 



260 



