THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 293 



and occasionally out to openings grown twenty feet 

 high with vines and bush undergrowth, but from which 

 we could see the sky. At last Cuninghame stopped 

 short with an exclamation of dismay. 



"We're in for it now!'' he whispered. 



The side hill looked as though an avalanche had 

 swept down it. Our elephant had joined a herd! 



Almost immediately afterward we heard a queer, 

 subdued, roaring sound, exactly like distant thun- 

 der. This was the stomach rumbling that attends 

 an elephant's digestion. I had heard of it, but I 

 had not before realized how loud it is nor how far it 

 carries. 



Elephants were trumpeting on the hill opposite; the 

 occasional distant thunder sound rumbled across to us; 

 every few moments a rending crash startled us like 

 a distant pistol shot. We gazed anxiously at the moss 

 dependent from the higher trees, to ascertain the di- 

 rection of the wind. We left all but N'jahgi and 

 Kongoni, and moved cautiously in the general direction 

 of the row. 



We tried to keep well to leeward of the whole lot; 

 but twice outlying elephants somewhere to our right 

 trumpeted or rumbled, and twice we backed out and 

 tried again, before we had given them our wind. We 

 had first of all to get outside of every beast before we 

 could begin to look for individuals. Thus we descended 

 our side hill, and prepared to cross to the other. At 



