92 AFRICAN ADVENTURE STORIES 



high on the bark. These and other signs, grow- 

 ing fresher and fresher all the time, told us that 

 we were slowly overtaking our game. 



"About noon we surmised that, if the ele- 

 phants were still travelling, we must be within 

 five miles of them; but, as it was feeding time, 

 I thought it practical to send my best tracker 

 ahead to reconnoitre, while we followed more 

 slowly. In a short time he returned and re- 

 ported that he had overhauled the herd feed- 

 ing in a grove of thorn-trees, of which they are 

 particularly fond. They were breaking off the 

 branches, digging up the roots with their tusks, 

 and then pushing the trees over with their heads 

 or pulling them down with their trunks. Al- 

 though he had not seen the big fellow, there 

 was no doubt that it was somewhere in the 

 group. 



"By the time we had arrived they had 

 passed out of the grove and were again in the 

 elephant-grass, which, owing to its height and 

 density, made it impossible for us to see them. 

 Even when we mounted an ant-hill the growth 

 was so tall that we got only an occasional 

 glimpse of a back or of a few snake-like trunks 

 waving about in the air. The wind was scarcely 



