chap. iv. ELEPHANT. 209 



would certainly change their quarters. After resting for 

 half an hour we again went in, though now, as the ele- 

 phants were in such a bad temper and on the look-out, 

 we had to be careful, and the hunters wanted one of their 

 number to accompany me ; but as I have always found 

 that a companion in such cover is only in the way, and, 

 indeed, from impeding one's movements, renders the 

 danger all the greater when a charge does take place, I 

 objected to his coming and went in alone. I made my 

 way up to where the elephant had fallen without seeing 

 anything, and striking the spoor of the cow I had 

 wounded, I went after her. It was no easy task. Her 

 track was broad enough, but she had rushed through the 

 densest masses of cactus, knocked over trees, and gone 

 straight ahead through everything, and it was often 

 difficult to get past. After her first blind rush she had 

 turned up wind, and at last, moderating her pace, had 

 again taken to the usual paths. 



In ten minutes, expecting every second of the time to 

 be charged, I saw a dark loom through the bushes, which 

 I took to be her, and getting on a little, I made out her 

 head and shoulder. This was enough, and I fired. The 

 instant I did so the whole bush, hitherto so silent and 

 still, seemed to become alive with screaming, charging 

 elephants, and, fairly stupified by the infernal din, I did 

 what perhaps was the wisest thing after all — namely, to 

 crawl under the hollow formed by a fallen tree close to 

 me, and lie still. Not a second afterwards an elephant 

 passed over its other end, almost deafening me with its 

 shrill trumpeting, while I could hear others all round me. 

 An elephant in a rage is a magnificent sight when one is 



o 



