THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 305 



owing to the fact that the short tough grass sprmgs 

 back so quickly. Soon we lost it entirely, and sat 

 down atop anthills while the Wanderobo scattered out 

 to look. A smart shower drenched us and passed on. 

 Kenia, behind us to the east, was lost in a mist that 

 swept the tops of the gloomy forest, but before us we 

 could see down over the wide country near Olbolosset 

 and Rumeruti, where we safaried three years ago. We 

 figured out we were just about sitting on the equator! 



We stayed here some time. Then from around the 

 corner of a big forest patch the youngest Wanderobo 

 appeared. He was running, so we wxnt to meet him. 



"He says they have seen the elephant," Kongoni 

 translated. 



We hurried on after him, descending the long grassy 

 slope skirting the edge of the forest. At the end of a 

 mile we came on all the rest of the Wanderobo humped 

 do\vn behind a single thin bush, their blankets wrapped 

 around them and their necks outstretched like a lot of 

 very eager mud turtles. About half a mile away, 

 walking nonchalantly about in the short grass, was the 

 elephant, his tusks gleaming against the dark back- 

 ground of the forest. 



Cuninghame, Kongoni, and I darted forward. The 

 elephant was walking steadily to the left; and we, under 

 cover of small clumps, were hurrying toward him as 

 fast as we could in the hope of reaching him before he 

 reentered the forest. In this we failed, for when we 



