294 THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 



the bottom I happened to be a little above the others 

 and so was in a position to see plainly an elephant 

 walking leisurely down into the same hollow from the 

 other side. He was only about fifty yards away, and 

 looked as big as the Flatiron building. I snapped my 

 fingers and so got hold of Cuninghame and Kongoni, 

 but N'jahgi was too far ahead, and wound his un- 

 conscious way steadily toward the great beast. A 

 head-on meeting seemed inevitable; but Kongoni, on 

 inspiration, chucked a piece of earth into the high 

 grass near N'jahgi. The savage caught the slight 

 sound of its falling, and looked back. We motioned 

 him to us, and the situation was saved. The elephant 

 pushed his way slowly into the thick forest. 



Now directly ahead we heard the sound of trumpet- 

 ing, crashing, heavy snorting. We crept forward like 

 snakes, our eyes straining into the dimness. Cuning- 

 hame paused to whisper back to me : 

 ''This is highly dangerous, you know!" 

 I was glad to get my own impressions corroborated 

 by an expert. The great beasts were all about us, yet 

 we could not see twenty yards. All we could do was to 

 listen and look and move forward by inches. Cuning- 

 hame had told me that when among elephants I should 

 always keep clearly in my mind my line of retreat; 

 must know exactly where I intended to dive in case of 

 trouble. I kept picking out places and discarding 

 them as they fell too far in the rear; though none of 



