90 AFRICAN ADVENTURE STORIES 



colonel on his recent feat, adding that escape 

 from a charging elephant of any kind, and par- 

 ticularly a "rogue," deserved congratulations, 

 as he could testify from a certain "close call" 

 he once had in elephant hunting. 



"Now, captain," spoke up the colonel, "I 

 feel sure that you have an interesting story to 

 relate; so please give it to us at once." 



"Well, it was a bit awkward, I must admit," 

 began the captain, "and so upset me that I 

 have never 'taken on* an elephant since. 



"I had been out ivory hunting for some time, 

 and, while we found elephants, they were all 

 small animals or cows with calves. One morn- 

 ing we struck a bunch in which, judging from 

 the enormous track, there was an immense 

 tusker, well worth following. Sending word 

 back to camp for my men to pull stakes imme- 

 diately and come after us, for one is never sure 

 how many days he may have to follow a herd, 

 I struck out in pursuit of them. 



"The tracks were made several hours before, 

 and evidently there were about twenty elephants 

 in the bunch. They were travelling at a good 

 rate, and we hoped that they would stop to 

 feed late in the afternoon. 



