Solitary Elephant 



for game and lending me his one and only soldier as 

 an escort. After many "wehwallies" ("good luck!") 

 and handshakes I left him a firm and faithful ally. 

 I had intended pushing on to a place called Nkole, 

 when a man I met told me in an off-hand manner 

 that there was a solitary elephant asleep under a 

 tree quite close. I was as pleased as Punch as I 

 sat on a withered tree stump and read a copy of 

 ]\[. A. P. until my '* safari " arrived, when I took to 

 the grass and soon reached a sort of camp, although 

 there was little of the camp about it. I got out 

 of my "shorts" and put on riding breeches to 

 protect my knees from the thorns and grasses, then 

 distributing one round of ammunition to each of the 

 orderlies, I took eight myself (having only ten in 

 all left, as my boy had not arrived with the fresh 

 consignment). We went off full of determination, 

 though I felt rather uneasy as to my ability to bring 

 off the coup. I had only shot one before, and I 

 feared I might miss in the excitement. One's 

 thoughts when setting out on an expedition of this 

 sort are rather quaint and curious. I went over in 

 my mind all the different yarns I had heard, and 

 wondered whether my opponent would kneel on me 

 or transfix me or merely play football with me. In 

 the midst of my calculations I stumbled, tripping up 

 in a thorn bush, but I felt encouraged when I recol- 

 lected how William the Conqueror did the same on 

 landing for his conquest of England, when he picked 

 himself up, holding handfuls of soil in each hand, 

 changing a bad omen into a good augury. I looked 



151 



