1 88 In the Heart of Africa 



us, I essayed in spite of the distance to bring him down with a 

 bullet. This, however, only resulted in his spreading his enor- 

 mous ears after each shot and throwing back his trunk aggres- 

 sively. As he then threatened to vanish in the reed-grass, I 

 decided in spite of the unfavourable wind, which carried my 

 scent towards him, to cross the swamp till I got near and could 

 venture a finishing shot. The way through the morass was 

 terribly difficult, and we frequently got stuck up to our knees, 

 in addition to which a fire which had raged round that part not 

 long before had covered everything with a thick layer of soot, 

 so that we were, or, rather, I was, soon unrecognisable with dirt, 

 for my sole followers, the Askari, Abdullah, and my boy 

 Mambo, were very little altered by the addition of the soot. 



We finally worked our way through, and felt firm ground 

 under our feet once more ; but we had got into a belt of niatete, 

 which shot up nearly twelve feet high and prevented our seeing 

 any distance in front of us. Nothing was to be seen of the 

 elephant. In order to get a better view I climbed on to 

 Abdullah's shoulders. But although a voice at my rear warned 

 me, and a man on the terrace-sloped bank signed to me with his 

 hands that the elephant was close by, I could only perceive a 

 slight movement amongst the tops of the grasses. Believing the 

 elephant to be badly hurt, I decided to approach closer. We 

 had not gone many more steps when we became aware of rustling, 

 crackling, and trampling sounds in the bushes, and knew that the 

 creature had scented us and was preparing to charge. Unable 

 amongst the tall matete to discern anything, we retraced our steps 

 somewhat in order to get into freer ground. My two followers, 

 however, lost their heads in the presence of the approaching 

 danger, and instead of following me they decamped as quickly 

 as possible, reaching a spot where they found their further 

 passage barred by the stout stalks of the tall grasses. Here they 

 got entangled, and in a desperate attempt to free themselves 

 Mambo fell and carried Abdullah with him. At the same 

 moment the mighty head of the elephant appeared with trunk 

 extended. Perceiving the imminent peril, Abdullah put a leaden 



