HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



sport and ivory, I suggested that my gun would be more 

 likely to kill an elephant than the knife that they had 

 with them. They all shouted in a chorus of approval, 

 for they had previously seen the mighty beasts dropping 

 before the " sticks that spoke with fire." Their faces 

 were wreathed in smiles, the warrior who carried on his 

 shoulder the enormous spear which was fully eight feet 

 in length, and weighed about sixty pounds, swung round 

 in his excitement, and as the unwieldy weapon came in 

 contact with Juma's load, the boy was all but felled to the 

 ground. They all spoke in a hoarse whisper of subdued 

 excitement, and every now and again peered through 

 the bushes as though watching the movements of the 

 tuskers. 



Replacing solid for soft-nosed ammunition in the 

 magazine, I was prepared to start. " Where are the 

 elephants ? " I asked. " We do not know, we are going 

 out to look for them," they replied. Judging by the 

 subdued whispering I thought a large herd was close by ; 

 but no, they had no idea where they were bound for, or 

 whether elephants were anywhere in the vicinity ! Dis- 

 gusted, I swung round and continued on my journey, 

 leaving the natives staring and jabbering away in an 

 excited manner. 



That afternoon I was smoking my pipe and taking 

 things easy in camp when Kalalili came to me in a great 

 state of excitement. " Master," he whispered hoarsely, 

 " the Shinzis are coming to-night when you sleep ! ' 

 ' Who told you this ? " I asked. " I went to the village 

 to get some eggs and matamma, I overheard them talking, 

 and they are coming to kill us." I had heard rumours 

 of this sort at various times, and now that I was single- 

 handed it behoved me to take extra care, and I sat 

 pondering over the matter for some little time. I was 

 alone with five boys and but sixty rounds of ammunition. 

 I decided to chance it until nightfall, and then to try a 



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