318 THE ELEPHANT. 



I then added, half speaking to myself, and half 

 addressing my servant, " Two of these brutes, as 

 I certainly foresee, must and shall bite the dust 

 before the setting of to-morrow's sun." 



Accordingly the first grey streaks of dawn had 

 hardly announced the arrival of the blushing day 

 when I was in pursuit of my lost quarry. They 

 had evidently visited a fountain in the neighbour- 

 hood, but the excessive rankness of the grass, and 

 the numerous tracks of other elephants who had 

 previously quenched their thirst there, made it so 

 very difficult to follow the spoor, that the sun 

 was high in the heavens before we had fairly 

 tracked them on the way to their noonday haunts. 

 Fortunately, they had progressed very leisurely, 

 which enabled us to gain on them rapidly, and in 

 a short time we viewed them in the distance. Two 

 out of the three were sauntering to and fro ; here 

 cropping tender shoots, there thrusting their mas- 

 sive tusks under the roots of trees, in order, by 

 toppling them over, to feed more conveniently on 

 their delicate leaves and sweet tendrils, whilst the 

 third was loitering in the rear, carelessly scraping 

 the sand with his flexible trunk, that he might 

 gain access to some favourite root or succulent 

 bulb. 



Interesting as was the picture, I gave but a few 

 moments to its contemplation, and proceeded at 

 once to the attack. A short " stalk " sufficed to 

 bring me within easy range of the laggard. A 

 minute afterwards, the still morning air was dis- 

 turbed by the explosion of my trusty rifle. A 



