76 AFRICAN ADVENTURE STORIES 



ing the limbs I saw a herd of about ten elephants 

 huddled together not more than three hundred 

 yards away. I was told that this herd had been 

 lingering in the vicinity for several weeks. 



In regions little frequented by man the sound 

 of the human voice will alarm elephants as 

 quickly as the scent of a hunter. But they rely 

 more on their keen scent to warn them of dan- 

 ger than on either hearing or seeing. When ap- 

 proaching a herd the chief thought in an ele- 

 phant hunter's mind is the direction of the wind. 

 He first tries to make sure that the animals are 

 not scattered and that there are none to the 

 right or to the left that will catch his wind and 

 give the alarm. Often he sends his gun bearer 

 up a tree or to the top of an ant-hill to look 

 about. 



So long as the elephants' trunks are down 

 there is little danger, but, when he sees the 

 U-shaped curve of a proboscis waving in the 

 air over the top of the elephant-grass, he knows 

 that if its owner has not actually scented him, it 

 is at least suspicious of danger and is feeling for 

 his scent. Then, when another and another ap- 

 pears, he is certain that the warning has been 

 communicated to the whole herd and that trouble 



