204 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



breakfast I marched thither, with thirteen Bechuanas 

 bearing the tusks, flesh, &c. 



On my way I visited the remains of the elephant 

 whieh Kapain's men hac. found ; it was the carcass of 

 an enormous old bull, no doubt the elephant which I 

 had first shot on the night of the 16th of last month, 

 for I had followed his spoor to within half a mile of the 

 sj)ot. His tusks were stolen as reported ; they had not 

 been cut out, but drawn. The skull remained perfect," 

 and was finely cleaned by hyaenas, vultures, and in- 

 sects. On beholding the carcass, I at once knew that 

 Kapain had lied in saying that his men had cut the fat 

 I saw with them out of the elephant, for it was evi- 

 dent that all flesh and fat had been at an end many 

 days previously : the tusks, however, had quite lately 

 been drawn, perhaps on the preceding day. I felt quite 

 certain that Kapain was deceiving me, so I at once 

 charged him with falsehood, and resolved in my own 

 mind to take some very strong measures for the recov- 

 ery of the tusks. I suspected that a tribe of Bakala- 

 hari, who lived not far from the elephant, upon the riv- 

 er, knew all about the tusks, for there were no other 

 natives in that district ; so I resolved to ride to the vil- 

 lage early next morn, and threaten to shoot the chief 

 if the teeth did not quickly appear. 



Accordingly, on the morning of the 6th, before it was 

 clear, four steeds were saddled, and, having taken cof- 

 fee, I crossed the Limpopo, accompanied by Carey, John, 

 and Piet, bearing double-barreled guns, and held down 

 the river side for the Bakalahari village, which we made 

 in about an hour. As soon as I observed the hcises, 

 I dashed across their corn-lands |it a racing pai-z, and 

 was standing in the middle of the natives befo r they 

 were aware of my approach. 



