Herd of Elephants Found 



direction of the wind, and decided to work my way- 

 round to the right. 



It was now about three in the afternoon, and I 

 was pretty well done, but excitement is a great 

 stimulant. I think we must have taken the best 

 part of three-quarters of an hour before we finally 

 made the top of the rise. Then a happy inspiration 

 induced me to ascertain the direction of the wind 

 once more. There was, as a matter of fact, scarcely 

 a stir, but I found that now we were out of the 

 valley it had veered round considerably. This was 

 annoying, as it meant making a long detour across 

 a valley to retrace our steps back whence we had 

 just come. To those unacquainted with elephant 

 hunting it is difficult to appreciate the precautions 

 which are necessary. As it was, we passed the herd 

 on our right much closer than I cared about. 

 Through my glasses I could make out the great 

 beasts lazily fanning their big ears, or swinging a 

 leg, a quaint habit they have when standing at ease. 

 Now and then they would pluck some dainty morsel 

 from a neighbouring bush of "wait-a-bit thorn," or 

 toss a tuft of grass over their backs to scare the flies. 



One must own to a distinctly creepy feeling. It 

 is these preliminary manoeuvres which are the most 

 trying to the nerves. Unfortunately, the grass was 

 very long, about six feet high, which necessitated 

 creeping up very close to get in a good shot. 



When we were about fifty yards off, I crawled 

 up behind an ant-heap and made my selection from 

 the herd. One was a very big male, which I esti- 



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