348 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



work puzzling it out where the animals had scattered out 

 and loitered along feeding. The trail led up and down 

 hills and through open thorn scrub, and it crossed and 

 recrossed the wooded watercourses in the bottoms of the 

 valleys. At last, after going some ten miles we came on 

 sign where the elephants had fed that morning, and four 

 or five miles further on we overtook them. That we did 

 not scare them into flight was due to Tarlton. The trail 

 went nearly across wind; the trackers were leading us 

 swiftly along it, when suddenly Tarlton heard a low trumpet 

 ahead and to the right hand. We at once doubled back, 

 left the horses, and advanced toward where the noise in- 

 dicated that the herd was standing. 



In a couple of minutes we sighted them. It was just 

 noon. There were six cows, and two well-grown calves 

 these last being quite big enough to shift for themselves or 

 to be awkward antagonists for any man of whom they 

 could get hold. They stood in a clump, each occasionally 

 shifting its position or lazily flapping an ear; and now and 

 then one would break off a branch with its trunk, tuck it 

 into its mouth, and withdraw it stripped of its leaves. The 

 wind blew fair, we were careful to make no noise, and with 

 ordinary caution we had nothing to fear from their eyesight. 

 The ground was neither forest nor bare plain; it was cov- 

 ered with long grass and a scattered open growth of small 

 scantily leaved trees, chiefly mimosas, but including some 

 trees covered with gorgeous orange-red flowers. After 

 careful scrutiny we advanced behind an ant-hill to within 

 sixty yards, and I stepped forward for the shot. 



Akeley wished two cows and a calf. Of the two best 

 cows one had rather thick, worn tusks; those of the other 



