A Jungle Trip. 283 



should carry two spare guns. One good tracker should 

 lead this party of five people in single file. With great 

 caution and silence, being well to leeward of the ele- 

 phant, he can thus generally be approached till within 

 twelve paces, and he is then killed by one shot before 

 he knows that danger is near. What with our gun- 

 bearers, trackers, watchers and ourselves, we were a 

 party of sixteen persons ; it was therefore impossible to 

 get near a rogue unperceived. 



On the way to the tent I got a shot at a deer at full 

 gallop, on " old Jack." It was a doe, who bounded 

 over the plain at a speed that soon distanced my horse, 

 and I took a flying shot from the saddle with one of my 

 No. 10 rifles. I did not get the deer, although she was 

 badly wounded, as we followed the blood-tracks for 

 some distance through thick jungle without success. 



This was altogether a blank day ; and having thor- 

 oughly disturbed this part of the Park, we determined to 

 up stick and move our quarters on the following day 

 toward the " Cave," according to the plan that we had 

 agreed upon for beating the country. 



Dec. 3. With the cook and the canteen in com- 

 pany we started at break of day, leaving the servants to 

 pack up and bring the coolies and tents after us. By 

 this arrangement we were sure of our breakfast wher- 

 ever we went, and we were free from the noise of our 

 followers, whose scent alone was enough to alarm miles 

 of country down wind. We had our guns all loaded, 

 and carried by our respective gun-bearers close to the 

 horses, and, with Banda, old Medima and a couple of 

 trackers, we were ready for anything. 



We had ridden about six miles when we suddenly 

 came upon fresi elephant-tracks in a grassy hollow, sur- 



