294 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



hunter as can be found in Africa, and is one of the very 

 few white men able to help even the wild bushmen at their 

 work. By the afternoon of the second day they were fairly 

 well satisfied as to the whereabouts of the quarry. 



The following morning a fine rain was still falling when 

 Cuninghame, Heller, and I started on our hunt; but by 

 noon it had stopped. Of course we went in single file and 

 on foot; not even a bear hunter from the cane-brakes of the 

 lower Mississippi could ride through that forest. We left 

 our home camp standing, taking blankets and a coat and 

 change of underclothing for each of us, and two small 

 Whymper tents, with enough food for three days; I also 

 took my wash kit and a book from the Pigskin Library. 

 First marched the 'Ndorobo guides, each with his spear, 

 his blanket round his shoulders, and a little bundle of corn 

 and sweet-potato. Then came Cuninghame, followed by 

 his gun-bearer. Then I came, clad in khaki-colored flannel 

 shirt and khaki trousers buttoning down the legs, with 

 hobnailed shoes and a thick slouch hat; I had intended to 

 wear rubber-soled shoes, but the soaked ground was too 

 slippery. My two gun-bearers followed, carrying the Hol- 

 land and the Springfield. Then came Heller, at the head 

 of a dozen porters and skinners; he and they were to fall 

 behind when we actually struck fresh elephant spoor, but to 

 follow our trail by the help of a Dorobo who was left with 

 them. 



For three hours our route lay along the edge of the 

 woods. We climbed into and out of deep ravines in which 

 groves of tree-ferns clustered. We waded through streams 

 of swift water, whose course was broken by cataract and 

 rapid. We passed through shambas, and by the doors of 

 little hamlets of thatched beehive huts. We met flocks of 

 goats and hairy, fat-tailed sheep guarded by boys; strings 

 of burden-bearing women stood meekly to one side to let 

 us pass; parties of young men sauntered by, spear in hand. 



Then we struck into the great forest, and in an instant 

 the sun was shut from sight by the thick screen of wet 



