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a beautiful series of glades. Large drops of blood gave 

 me hopes that the poor beast would be obliged to stop 

 before long. On we went, plodding through swamps 

 and jungles, with eyes fixed on the ground. At times 

 I looked back and found myself quite alone, but, just 

 as I fancied, H. had found the pace too quick ; I would 

 see him appear at the far end of a glade, coming along 

 with that steady perseverance that I had marvelled at 

 many and many a time. Upon one occasion I looked 

 back just in time to see him shaking his fist at me, as 

 he lay in a recumbent position, a nice little creeper 

 having upset him in a most uncomfortable manner. 

 Once or twice the track led to the banks of a sluggish, 

 dirty river. At these places I expected to see him 

 every minute, but not so ; he had thought better and 

 turned off in another direction. At last, after following 

 the tracks down a nullah, the sand up to my ankles, 

 I stopped to consult with Hamilton ; we measured the 

 tracks. No time was to be lost, and from the constant 

 bleeding, I think Hamilton began to think affairs 

 looked better. So away we went again. Every now 

 and then I found myself so far ahead that I thought 

 it imprudent to go alone, so had to pull up and wait. 

 The spoor led on through much the same kind of 

 forest that we had found there in the morning ; but I 

 began to notice a change in the movements of the 

 elephant ; instead of keeping clear of all thickets as he 

 had hitherto done, he now seemed to have meditated 

 stopping in each thicket, and had gone through it as if 

 for the purpose of examining its size and thickness. 

 Most cautiously, with cocked barrels and a light step, 

 I passed through each of these thickets, half fearing a 

 charge. I had just emerged from one of these, through 

 which, from the nature of the tracks, I could see the 

 elephant had walked slowly, when I was, to my delight, 



